Appreciate Advice

First time I have written on any forum but here goes.....

Seperated for 2 years after wife left for 2nd time. Have 2 young children, married 17 years

Sold marital home leaving £100K equity, we split that 60:40 in favour of wife. Both now have bought own homes.

My income is about £45K (Only gone to this since seperation, was £29K when seperating)
Wife income is about £16K + Tax credits of £4K.

I give £460 a month which is more than CSA guidelines as have kids 2 days per week.

I understand there might be a need for spousal maintenance but I have the following questions

1. Can spousal support be offset by a lump sum and the fact that the equity was divided 60:40 in wife's favour
2. How is it calculated and any idea what I can expect to pay

We both now have partners, mine will live with me soon, my wife claims partner does not co-habit but he does!!!
1. Does my partners wages get taken into account in any maintenance?


Thanks for any help.

Argill,

Sounds like so far you have been doing things quite amicably - which is good.

There is no magic formula for SM - but some principles/guidelines.

Things pointing towards SM:
- your income being twice hers.

Things pointing towards no SM:
- you only earned 29k at separation date
- she has new partner
- you have both already successfully re-housed yourselves


A court may very well rule for nominal spousal maintenance in this case. Which is basically a safety net. Paid at 1 pound a year, but the fact it is awarded allows her to ask the court to increase the amount (typically anypoint in next five years) if her circumstances change - job loss/illness/partner leaves.

On the other hand a real SM of a couple/few hundred pounds per mth could be made......if I were you I might try to trade off something else to avoid this. Do you perhaps have a pension you could give her 20% of?

Thanks for comments

Yes have a pension with a CETV value of £43K. Assumed I would have to give 50% of this anyway?

argill wrote:

Thanks for comments

Yes have a pension with a CETV value of £43K. Assumed I would have to give 50% of this anyway?

Hi Argill. No you may not have to give this up. The thing with SM, equity and all the rest is its so variable. It depends on the judge etc. Only thing to do is suck it and see. SM is usualy time limited say for a couple of years to allow your ex to adjust to the new financial situation. I would start doing my sums. Chris.

Fiona wrote:

Pensions, or indeed any asset, can be offset against another. In E&W pensions are often taken as a % of the CETV depending on the type of pensions and how many years there are to go before reaching retirement.

Fiona. What if he or she remaries though. Does that affect the pension rights?

I have a company pension. Its not final salary. Its a money purchase scheme. If my ex2b gets half of it. And I stop paying into it what then? Can they force me to contribute? To be honest its a waste of money and the amount I am paying in wont do a lot when I retire in about 12 years. I am resigned to keep working. Chris.