going mad

first off i apologise if i've posted in the wrong place.

i got married a few years back outside of the uk in a traditional islamic wedding.

anyways last year it was decided me and (ex)wife would divorce due to many reasons.

we divorced as required by islamic sharia law. I came home from work the other day with some UK court papers for divorce on my door step.

now she is claiming from what i read, maintenance and so on. (there ws jargon in there i didnt understand)

At the time we were together I was a full time student and she was full time employement, however i supported myself throughout uni.

I graduated after we divorced (islamically), however all this seems to have coincided with my recent high earnings employment. (1year & 1 month after we split)

in the divorce paper she has cited, i was receiving seeing other females and i was unbareable to live with.

currently I have no assets of value as i live with my parents and am also beginning to pay off my student debt, as she stated in the papers she wants me to pay for the divorce.

with my current financial standing and employment, whats the worst that could happen

Maddali,
Welcome to Wikivorce, home of the relationship challenged. What's the worst that could happen? Wow. Run over by a bus? Lightning strike?

It is all about needs and ability to pay. And your length of marriage.

Divorce is really just a paperwork exercise, with the additional complication of emotions.

If it is uncontested and agreed amicably, the whole thing can be done for about £800.

If she is crying 'maintenance' then a lot more detail would be needed to give you an idea of what would be reasonable.

The information needed is:

Your ages
Length of marriage
Value of marital home and outstanding mortgage
Age and sex of any children involved
Your / her income
Any debts, personal or marital (joint)
Any assets worth more than £500
Any savings or investments, including overseas
Any pensions - you or her

You could post it all in the Wikivorce Calculator (front page) to get a view, or reply to the post with it.

As to the reasons for divorce - they don't matter a tiny little bit. Divorce in the UK is no blame. It makes no difference to the financial outcome for either of you.

Without the info above, it is impossible to give you an idea of how a court might view it all. Court is the last option, if you cannot agree a settlement between you. That is one to be avoided as a full hearing could cost you £25,000 each. Yes, each.

Hope it gives you some ideas to be thinking about. The Wikivorce step-by-step guide on the front page is also a very good overview of the process.

Best of luck and look both ways when crossing the road

Mike

she is 4-5 years older than me i'm 27

we dont own our own house, as we were living at my parents and our outgoing was next to nothing when it came to living costs, I just want nothing more to do with her.

i'm just worried with my new job she will want maintenance, as my new job pays 30k+ i will have to even though i've not seen her in over a year.


we dont have kids, nor do we have any joint debts, i have credit card/student loans debts, but i will pay for these myself.

if she takes me to court, will she get maintenance according to my new salary even though it has been 1 year since we divorced.

i used the calculator and to be honest, i didnt keep tabs on her outgoing as she said it's her money and she'll spend it how she wants (mainly on shoes) but it worked out she has to pay me around £700. (even after all this i do not want her money)

my student debts are approx £15,000 and i have paid approx £1000 back since april this year.

if this is dragged through the courts will they base a descision on my current earning or that of when i was a student?

Length of marriage? Very important

i think bout 7 years 10 months

OK, so not quite a long marriage, where it is a straight 50:50 split of assets, not is it a short marriage where you each take out what you put in an divide up any profit or loss on the assets for the duration of the marriage.

You are both young. You have no dependant children. You are both working and self sufficient.

Unless thaere is a huge disparity in your incomes then I would say that you are perfect candidates for a Clean Break divorce, with no maintenance payable by either party.

You simply agree your own split of any marital assets, get the Decree Nisi, get a Consent Order drafted up detailing the split of the assets, apply for the Decree Absolute and get on with your lives.

With your student loan hanging around your neck, I think it is unlikeley that she would be successful in obtaining maintenance from you.

It is standard practice n the divorce petition to tick all boxes and say that you want to apply for everything. It doesn't mean she will actually apply, or get it.

Simply return the acknowledgement of service, signed and if you don't agree to her reasons, you can simply say that.

Hopefully all very straightforward. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Mike

many thanks for you assistance, much appreciated. I hope it's relatively quick and simple, as i've read some cases on here that have taken months if not years.