Divorce - Consent/Financial Order

wavey_d

Hi everyone

My ex wife and I are currently going through a divorce. We had a property together which she bought me out of in December 2021. I then used this money (along with a mortgage) to buy my own property.

We applied for divorce in August 2023 and on 10th February we can apply for the conditional order. Although the property finances have already been sorted, I believe she will try and obtain some of my pension as my pension pot is larger (I am 4.5 years older and she did not work for a couple of years when our children were born).

However, I'm struggling to work out how the dividing of assets will now work. I am not against her having part of my pension, if that's what the law says, but her house is actually worth a fair bit more than mine and I think she has more equity than me. So come retirement, she may have substantially more assets than me.

Am I correct in thinking that a very simple way of totaling assets for each of us would be:

(House price - Outstanding mortgage) + Pension + savings = total assets

There are no other real assets of value to consider.

I assume that once we then have the total assets each, we would then use these figures to determine the next steps. E.g if the assets are similar, there might not be money owed by either party.

This might be overly simplifying things, but I want to get my head around things. It might be that we still need some sort of mediation, but I want to know in advance how things might turn out.

Also, is it recommended to wait to apply for the conditional order until we sort the finances or can we apply for this conditional order straight away on 10th February?

Thanks in advance!

Brie

My understanding is that it's as you say "(House price - Outstanding mortgage) + Pension + savings = total assets"

Then it is TA(wavey)+TA(wavey's ex)=TA(wavey family) / 2.  

Then if your TA is more than the family TA then you owe her.  If hers is higher she owes you.

Savvy_Sue

The complicated question is what are your respective pensions worth? Well, question isn't complicated but the answer can be and may require a specialist to answer that, and time for the calculations.

If you think she'll want to go for part of your pension, it could well be worth you informing yourself now. I'd definitely want to work out what her equity is likely to be and get advice on how pension sharing calculations work. Then you're in a better position to negotiate.

Exodi

You say your pension pot is larger - I may be jumping to conclusions here, but is that to say you both have DC pensions then? If so, these are much easier to know the values of as it'll say it in the dashboard when you login. DB schemes require you to request a CETV.

If you intend to look at her house (i.e. not agree with each others valuations) in response to her looking at your pension, you would need to appoint a surveyor to value the properties. In my opinion estate agents typically overvalue houses (it's part of their strategy), though I can see why you might be tempted to suggest this.

An equal split is not a guarantee and a court will consider whether both parties needs are met. If your wife is still looking after the children, or even if she's not but may struggle to find work due to being out of the workforce for a while, she may ask for a higher share of financial support.

wavey_d

Exodi said:

You say your pension pot is larger - I may be jumping to conclusions here, but is that to say you both have DC pensions then? If so, these are much easier to know the values of as it'll say it in the dashboard when you login. DB schemes require you to request a CETV.

If you intend to look at her house (i.e. not agree with each others valuations) in response to her looking at your pension, you would need to appoint a surveyor to value the properties. In my opinion estate agents typically overvalue houses (it's part of their strategy), though I can see why you might be tempted to suggest this.

An equal split is not a guarantee and a court will consider whether both parties needs are met. If your wife is still looking after the children, or even if she's not but may struggle to find work due to being out of the workforce for a while, she may ask for a higher share of financial support.

Hi Exodi

Thanks for the info. Yes, we have DC pensions. I know the value of mine, no idea what hers is worth though.

We live in the same area and I have a rough idea what the value of the houses is. I know that exact values could be required if things are not sorted easily. However, I hope that when even estimated figures are known that our overall assets turn out to be fairly similar. e.g. the difference in our pension value is similar to the difference in our equity. We can then call it quits, sign a consent order and get on with our lives. Maybe wishful thinking! 

My ex-wife does now work full time and I have the kids almost 50/50 (6 nights out of 14), so I don't think extra financial support should be needed. I also pay her a decent amount of child maintenance, which I'm not sure if I have to due to the almost 50/50 childcare split

SuseOrm

Do not finalise the divorce until the consent order is implemented not agreed, actually implemented and everybody has the necessary transfer of cash assets whatever.  That’s my very strong advice, because after the divorce has been finalised, there’s very little incentive to actually deliver the physical assets signatures whatever