Advice on Financial Settlement please?

Hi

I''m just after some information for my partner who is in the process of divorcing his STBXW. I''m looking for advice on what he can expect to be made to pay out to her, one of their phone calls the other day consisted of her telling him she is going to bleed him dry and take him for every penny he has. She has told him she wants the house, the contents, half his pensions, him to pay half the bills, maintenance for their adult children, half the money he sold his car for, half of the motorbike he now owns and half of a compensation claim he is making after a car knocked him off his bike, although as yet there hasn''t been any compensation paid and he has been told it could take another 6 months.
So I''m listing the details below as best I can, I''m new to this so please be patient:

Husband age 46
Wife age 48
Length of marriage 22years
He ended it August 2013, moved out of the home October 2013
House value £125000, mortgage o/s £75000
Husbands pension value £37000
Wifes pension (final salary) value £20000
No savings
Debts from during marriage £3000 (husband is paying)
1 daughter 23, works full time £22000pa, lives in FMH, 1 son 20, at Uni, works part time, lives in FMH
Husbands net earnings from full time job £1600pm
Wifes net earnings from part time job £1000pm, (could do more hours and regularly does)
Husband pays £270pm mortgage, £30pm house insurance
Wife pays £200pm mortgage & all household bills except house insurance (all of which are now in her name and have been since he moved out), which equals to approx £800 per month
No savings
1 car that was sold for £1000, was husbands, wife cant drive
1 Motorbike that was purchased after husband moved out of the FMH, is husbands
Husband also has 1 6th of a share in MIL home, due to a freehold lease or something or other (not clear on the details), her home is valued at £100000


So, if anyone can help sum up what might be the pay out, and if spousal maintenance would be an issue, we would appreciate it? He has offered her the FMH, everything in it, the share of her mothers house, her pensions, any inheritance she might get etc, and he is asking that he stops paying the mortgage and house insurance, has his name taken off both, that she leaves his pensions alone and any inheritance he might get and finally that she sign the divorce papers.

She has said he should be paying maintenance for his son and daughter. We have been advised he doesn''t have to pay for his 23 year old daughter but may have to pay bare minimum for his 20 year old son, but as he pays more a month for the mortgage this may be classed as the "maintenance" payment.

Thank you and sorry for the long post

Michelle

PS - One final note, he is going to be living with me eventually and I have 3 young children, all under 10 that live in the home he will be sharing 90% of the time (they stay with their dad 1 weekend of every 2weeks), so he will have financial commitments to us as a family when this happens - if that makes a difference?

Your partner and his wife need to think about running the finances in the shorter and longer term. If they jointly own the former matrimonial home they are both separately liable for the whole mortgage and it''s in neither party'' interest for mortgage payments to fall into arrears, the house to be repossessed and sold below market value. That would affect both spouse''s credit rating and their mortgage raising capacity. Longer term the aim is to separate the finances so the parties are as financially autonomous as possible and living similar standard to start independent lives.

A good starting point is to consider how everyone is to be housed. The 23 yo is earning and will considered independent. The priority is the welfare of children under 18 and, although they aren''t the priority, over 18s in education are relevant. It isn''t unreasonable for young uni students to be provided with a base even if they are away during term time.

A good starting point is to consider local housing prices and both parties'' mortgage capacity. Neither of them have big incomes and the problem is it doesn''t sound as though the wife will have difficulty raising enough mortgage for the former matrimonial home in her own right. That means your partner may need to stay on the mortgage.

Potential inheritances aren''t taken into account because the benefactor may spend all their money before they die or change their mind and leave it to the cat home. If the former matrimonial home is worth £125k there probably isn''t much opportunity to downsize so how is the wife to be housed?

PS Your partner meeting his responsibilities and obligations to his wife and first family are the main concern with a divorce settlement.

Thanks for getting back to me, my partner is happy for his ex to have the house. She has proven she can afford to run it during the last year, she has the ability to go full time or take on more hours at work, no family commitments or lack of opportunity stopping her, and now with another earning adult in the house she could carry on paying the mortgage comfortably without him. He isn''t going to stop paying and get in to any debt, a you say that wouldn''t help anyone and that is most definitely not in his interest. The house is 4 bedrooms and there are the 3 of them living there so is sufficient enough for them all to live in comfortably, the 20yo will be housed there until he is ready to move out is my guess.

Essentially what my partner wants is for her to take the house, everything in it and all her pensions and his share in her moms house and leave his pensions alone and take him off the mortgage. She, however, wants everything, is there a chance she could get everything? Also, the inheritance was put in simply because her father died last year and if she came in to inheritance he wasn''t looking for a claim to it, unfortunately its started to get nasty so I''m guessing if she did she will have to declare it as an asset eventually.

With regards to his first family, I understand the financial settlement will favour them and rightly so, however I read on here that when agreeing spousal maintenance both parties current living conditions and commitments are considered before anything is agreed. Obviously he will have a financial commitment to me and my children and our home, eventually.

As your partner only earns £1600 and his wife earns £1k SM isn''t at all likely.

If the wife has already inherited that is a resource available to her. WOuld that give her enough cash to reduce the mortgage? It isn''t so much whether she can afford the monthly mortgage payments, rather she may have difficulty raising enough mortgage in her own right to release your partner from the mortgage.

Basically looks like they are arguing over £50k in the house and his share of his MIL house which sounds like about £17k?

If she is living in the FMH then she should be paying the full mortgage and running costs for it while everything is sorted out.

23 year old should be paying a realistic amount of board for living there.

No child maintenance would be payable to the mother for the 20 year old. If son wants to try to claim maintenance from his parents he needs to do it in his own right.

Thank you both for your help, it all gets so confusing.

My partner has been to see a solicitor and his STBX said she has too but both are getting completely different advice. His solicitor has told him it sounds like she has taken advice from friends and citizens advice only. Still its worrying when she comes out with something like she is entitled to all of everything he owns, child maintenance, his pensions and for him to pay all the bills and mortgage till the end of his days.

Thanks again