Advice on finances

Hi there,

I''m new to this site and so I hope I''m posting in the right place.

After 13 years with my husband we have seperated and are now divorcing. We have 3 young children together and a joint mortgage on the family home. I gave up my career a little over 2 years ago to be at home with the children whilst his new career took off (he''s an offshore electrician) and knowing that he would be away from home for long periods of time, we both felt this was the right thing to do.

Now that we have seperated, he has told me that he changing his self employed status and making himself a ''limited company'' as he contracts himself out. He has also told me that he will be paying himself minimum wage so not to expect much maintenance as ''on paper'' his earnings will be relatively low, although I know that his earnings are very high!!

My question is, can he do this?? I''m not out to fleece him, I just want our children to have what they are entitled to. Any advice would be much appreciated. I do have an appointment with my solicitor at the end of the week, however a general heads up would be good!

Many thanks in advance x

I very much doubt if he will get away with that. It''s just a little too obvious. He is under a duty to take reasonable steps to maximise his earning capacity.

LMM

Thank you for your reply, this is what I was hoping. Will definitely mention it to the solicitor this week.

The money he earns has to go somewhere and it''s all added into the pot. So the money in the bank of the limited company and the company''s value are taken into account. It may be more tax efficient for him to operate the business as a company but he really is very stupid if he thinks he can get away with it by paying himself the minimum wage. And don''t forget that the fact that you have been a stay at home Mum and looking after the house has facilitated him earning well. The company value will be viewed as the ''book'' value and its value as an earning vehicle.

Stay strong and try to keep things moving so that he doesn''t have time to cook up any more schemes to massage the figures.

Grrrrrr.

Hi,

I am in the same boat, my stbx husband has limited company and is self employed, same trick.
And I am sorry to say but for CSA, his tricks will work as they take PAYE only and since he takes minimum salary only to avoid tax, rest he takes as dividend.

You just need to ensure you ask CSA and your solicitor to take his dividend into account. He must have Self assessment or his yearly account, which he should provide, otherwise he may get away with maintenance payment. Mine is doing his best, luckily i had his dividend declaration for £20K. So all the best

Innerpeace - I hadn''t thought of the CSA aspect. Whatever is in the brains or hearts of these people who would swindle their own children is beyond me!

Thanks all. I really don''t understand what has got into him, I have suspected for a while that he has been enjoying the ''single'' life of working away from home a little too much and due to his recent behaviour its become quite obvious that there is ''someone else'' and perhaps this is influencing him. He''s also trying to force me to sell the house, but thats another story!!

I''m hoping for a happy ending, eventually!