How do I know whats fair?

I am going to mediation soon and am wondering what would be a fair settlement to ask for.
My husband is leaving after 25 years of marriage, kids grown. I have been a housewife with a part time job.
He earns £3000 per month net and I earn £150 net part time.
The house is worth £450,000,no mortgage, his pension fund is £266,000.
We have savings of around £60,000.
I was looking at the calculator and it says 70/30 split plus spousal maintenance, is this correct? Is this what I should be asking for? Is it likely I would get a 70/30 split plus £1000 per month?
It would be nice if this is the case otherwise I haven't got a clue how I will be able to manage. What happens about the pension?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Well now, perhaps I can give you a few pointers as to how I might react to this.

You have a long marriage, and the children have grown up, and your financial position is better than quite a number of separating couples. It would be helpful if I knew your respective ages, and whether the £150 you mention is per week or per month - we have to compare like with like.

The first priority is to make sure both of you have a home - and here there is a mortgage free house. Your x2b has a mortgage capability and you have none, on these figures. I think the likelihood is that the Court would order a sale, and allow you sufficient to buy a small but comfortable house or flat outright, and leave him with sufficient to put down as a deposit on a house for himself, unless he's likely to move in with a new partner or anything like that. So I think the split of the proceeds is likely to give you more than 50% - at least for that particular asset.

I don't pretend to be very clever when it comes to pensions. This is one of the reasons I need to know your ages. But the closer you are to retirement, the more important it gets. In theory, you have a claim on his pension pot.

Here I'm rather inclined to think that your share would be less than 50%. You have to remember that matrimonial negotiations are often a trade off, and it is, for example, not uncommon for wives to forego any claim on the pension in return for a larger share of the equity.

As to savings - you need some, and so does he. I'm rather inclined to think a 50/50 split would be about right.

Spousal maintenance - well, the calculator has ' awarded ' you one third of his net income and it has not taken your income into account. This is why I need to know why that £150 is per week or per month.

The first question I think you must expect to be asked is, would be be possible or practical for you to work full time ? I think your x2b would argue that, if the Court does what I think it will do with the house, he will have a mortgage and you won't. He will argue that you should, at least, be expected to take reasonable steps to augment your income, bearing in mind that it might be supplemented by tax credits. I would expect him to make the point that, if you are awarded part of his pension, he may have to take steps to make good the loss, or some of it, in the working time he has left.

I think spousal maintenance would be awarded on these figures, but whether it would be as much as £1000 per month, I am less sure. A Court would undoubtedly look at your cost of living, and that of your x2b, and compare the two, The point that I want to make, madam, is that a Court, or a mediator, must look on the package as a whole. If, taken in the round, it is too advantageous to one party, you can expect some tweaking or fine tuning to make the overall package a fair one for both of you.

Mike 100468