Financial Clean Break never signed

lje2417

Bit of background - married 2005, 4 kids, (15,14,14,11) divorced 2018. 

At the time because of various things I just wanted to get divorced. He paid me half of the equity in the house and that was it. We split the kids equally when we first separated (4 nights one week, 3 the week after). But since covid 1 of the twins stays with him all the time, 1 50% and I have the other 2 100% and I 50%. He earns double, maybe triple what I do, and pays £31 a week maintenance. 

He’s recently come into quite a lot of money (close to £1m), and people are  telling me I should take him to Court for some of that money. Because of the length of the marriage, barely any maintenance and all I wanted to do was get divorced I didn’t push anything at the time. 

I’m not sure if I’ve got the energy to do it. Should I be telling him that I will sign one for x amount of money and not get anything else?

sassyblue

You need to add up first how much you’ve missed out on.

do you know exactly what he earns? If so you could use the government's online child maintenance calculator to see what he should be paying now, although I don’t know how you will assess that for the past years.  Is he by chance self employed because for child maintenance payments it’s assessed on his earnings - what he declares through tax and NI payments. If he tops up his earnings by dividend payments through his business then they are not taken into account.

then there’s pensions. Has he got one and would it have been worth seeking a portion of that and if so how much?

it's definitely worth seeing a solicitor for advice on how much you’d be likely to achieve to resolve any matrimonial finances and child maintenance payments.

this is why it’s so important to have a consent order at the end of a marriage.

Alias_Omega

You need a solicitor. 

I see two sides, 

• what your entitled to?

• is it greed?

What you are entitled to - Child maintenance is calculated and should be paid to that amount. I see it as he should be paying you for 1.5 children and you should claim child benefit for the child you have, and him the other. If you are working, you may need to pay him child maintenance for the child he has.

Is it greed - Some would say that your only coming 'cap in hand' because he has the money. I would consider the starting argument as "what was I entitled to in 2018 that I missed out on". 

I suspect you are entitled to

Child Maintenance
Spousal Maintenance
Pension Split

Property Split
Asset Split

As to the £1 Million 3 years later, unless its in the list above and was owned at the time (i.e. 2018) , I would say you don't have a chance.

Flip it the other way, what if you received £1 million and he came knocking, what would you say?

Get some 'paid for' legal advice!!

turnitround

As the previous poster said, would you want to share with your ex if the money was yours?

The time to argue about finances was at the time of the divorce. You say you didnt get a clean break order because you 'just wanted to get divorced'. If you had got the order back then he money he now has would just be his anyway. The length of marriage is irrelevant now, you have been divorced 3 years.

However you should be making sure the amount of maintenance he is paying is correct. How do you come to the 'barely and maintenance' conclusion. You seem to have had the children pretty much 50/50 most of the time.

TBagpuss

OK, I think the way to look at this is not "Am I entitled to a share of his inheritance ?" (answer - probably not, but more "Was the split when the house was sold a fair one?" again, based on what you've said, probably not, if he earns significantly more than you but the equity was split equally.

Were there any other assets, such as pensions, and were they split?  Was he earning at the much higher level at the time you split the house or has his income increased since you split? 

It ,ay be that it would be fair for you to receive a further lump sum or pension share, not because he has had an inheritance e but because you didn't receive a fair share of the joint assets at the time you split up.

How was the £31 a week maintenance calculated? from what you say, it sounds as though you have 2 children living with you full time, he has one full time, and the remaining child splits their time equally.  Have you checked https://child-maintenance.dwp.gov.uk/calculate/details/will-you-be-paying-or-receiving-child-maintenance-payments to see what the correct figure is? 

elsien

Alias_Omega said:

You need a solicitor. 

I see two sides, 

• what your entitled to?

• is it greed?

What you are entitled to - Child maintenance is calculated and should be paid to that amount. I see it as he should be paying you for 1.5 children and you should claim child benefit for the child you have, and him the other. If you are working, you may need to pay him child maintenance for the child he has.

Is it greed - Some would say that your only coming 'cap in hand' because he has the money. I would consider the starting argument as "what was I entitled to in 2018 that I missed out on". 

I suspect you are entitled to

Child Maintenance
Spousal Maintenance
Pension Split

Property Split
Asset Split

As to the £1 Million 3 years later, unless its in the list above and was owned at the time (i.e. 2018) , I would say you don't have a chance.

Flip it the other way, what if you received £1 million and he came knocking, what would you say?

Get some 'paid for' legal advice!!

Why do you think the OP would be entitled to spousal maintenance?  The expectation is more likely to be that they work and support themselves.