Divorce- Should we sell our house or sell my share for much less than its value?

AMartMan

@DE_612183 I see what you mean. Would it be unheard of to get another solicitor on my side just for the sake of ‘scaring’ her into what I should be entitled to? As you say via a letter? 

DE_612183

I definitely think it's worth while letting her know that you are seeking advice from a professional - I don't know if scaring is the right word - but perhaps letting her know you are not going to be a walk-over will make her sit up and think - it will also be good for your own pride and belief in yourself.

lisyloo

AMartMan said:

@DE_612183 I see what you mean. Would it be unheard of to get another solicitor on my side just for the sake of ‘scaring’ her into what I should be entitled to? As you say via a letter? 

It's very common for 2 people to have different solicitors who each work purely in the interests of one person.
It's expensive and confrontational but in your situation where there's an imbalance of assets and unlikely to be a completely amicable agreement it's quite normal.

Two pieces of advice, that I recent gave a friend.
1) Do not "chat" to your solicitor. they are £600 per hour or thereabouts. We are free. Talk here, talk to your friends but be succinct with your solicitor.
2) In any fight you need to weigh up the costs with the benefits. If one party turns down a reasonable offer they could well have to pay both sides fees. It wouldn't be ridiculous to suggest £10K each for a court battle so that has to be considered. Obviously that goes both ways so she can't really turn down a reasonable offer either. What usually happens is letter ping pong between the solicitors until a settlement is agreed that's at least neither side wants to fight further over.

AMartMan

Thank you both @lisyloo and @DE_612183 . I hope I can get this sorted, but if I can’t, I’ll let you know. 

Exodi

If we are talking about:

AMartMan said:

My share, if we sold, is worth more like £20,000

AMartMan said:

My pension is small (only part time wages) , but we're waiting on her CETV to come through on hers. 

AMartMan said:

I think she's had it for about 8 years now, full time. 

So possibly £40k of equity + (impossible to know without her pay or db terms... but for fun I'll delve into super crude guesstimates based on guesstimates below).

My wife earns about £40k per year in the civil service, and gains around £1.1k p/a in pension income (increasing in line with earnings and inflation). £100k buys an annuity worth £4.4k so super rough this makes the the annual value of the pension contributions about £25k... I've heard CETV's can be lower than what you could buy an equivalent annuity for so let's say £20k. If your partner had similar earnings/scheme to my wife, she could possibly have a CETV of £160k... it makes the squabbling over £10k-£20k in equity seem meaningless when you could be entitled to half a £100k+ pension.

lisyloo

My thoughts were along similar line but different calcs.
I guessed pension worth about 10K per annum * 8 years = £80K
so half that is £40K.

Exodi

lisyloo said:

My thoughts were along similar line but different calcs.
I guessed pension worth about 10K per annum * 8 years = £80K
so half that is £40K.

Aye yes, can we only guess what her income/terms may be - but I think we're in agreement that the equity in the house is likely to be dwarfed by her pension.

AMartMan

@Exodi I think it may be around the 40K mark but will see what happens! I haven't mentioned it yet to her and to be honest I'm frightened to bring it up. I think when we find out the CETV I shall have to mention it then. 

DE_612183

AMartMan said:

@Exodi I think it may be around the 40K mark but will see what happens! I haven't mentioned it yet to her and to be honest I'm frightened to bring it up. I think when we find out the CETV I shall have to mention it then. 

Don't be frightened - if she has an accountant or solicitor they should have already warned her that it's an option open to you - she may be miffed - but it should not be a complete surprise.

RAS

lisyloo said:

My thoughts were along similar line but different calcs.
I guessed pension worth about 10K per annum * 8 years = £80K
so half that is £40K.

Quite possibly the actuarial  value of the pension is a lot higher than £80k. Wait for the CETV.