Rather Complicated

Hi,
Just joined the site - really looking forward to the calculator being available, I have recently found out my wife has been cheating on me and will divorce on grounds of unreasonable behaviour...

Here is outline of my situation (rather complex!)

Ok met wife approx 10 years ago - she had a 2 year old son.

We co-habitated for approx 8 years before marrying in March 2005.

in this 10 year period we have had 3 children together.

When we first met my now wife owned a bungalow, which we have since extended that was left to her by her mother when she passed away.

I work Full time and earn 32k pa she part time earning 10k pa.

I am a gambler and throughout the years have had some big wins and also some big losses, however have been through all bank statemments and show a profit of c.28k for the 10 year period.

We have approx 200k equity in house once all outstanding debts are paid. Enough to sell the property her mother left her and buy her and the kids a place to live in mortgage free (or very small mortgage). Could this be done and a share of that property be kept for me until the youngest ceases to be dependant?

Also, wife been real bitch about money at the moment, I have moved out and paying rent on own place - am i disadvantaged (other than credit score damage) if I stop paying the mortgage and just pay the CSA? Mortgage is £800 a month and CSA c.£450 a month...

What sort of split would be likey on assetts in a case like this - to be honest I would happily walk away with nothing at all and no mortgage as long as the kids had somewhere to live.

Thanks in advance
John

John,

Welcome to the Wikivorce site, thanks for joining.

The first priority of the court is to house and maintain the children and the parent who cares for them (in this case your wife).

But they also have a duty to be fair and consider your needs also.

If you had been married 10 years things would be clearer as in a long marriage assets are typically deemed to belong to you both (whoever owned them at the beginning).

In divorce proceedings following a short marriage the court has historically looked towards returning the assets to the party who owned them pre-marriage.

So with 8 years co-habiting plus 2 years marriage you fall somewhere in teh middle.

Because she will be the main carer of the four kids and partly because she originally owned the house, i think it likely that she will be awarded a high percentage of the house - perhaps 80%.

So you would have a 20% share but would likely not get access to it until youngest is 19.

Then there is the difference in salaries. As well as being due to pay child support at CSA rates (25% for your 3 kids) - you could also be asked to pay an element of spousal maintenance which could be another 15%.

Gambling can be seen as in a very negative light by the courts so do make sure your proof that you made a profit overall is as watertight as you can make it.

A likely and practical compromise in this case is that you agree to let her have 100% of the house in return for no spousal maintenance. This works because it reduces her needs, as perhaps she would need zero mortgage. (You should go to local estate agents and find details of suitable properties she could buy for 200k).

So you walk away with nothing and are liable for Child Support only.

One thing you did not mention is pensions - on a 32K salary i would have guessed you may have a pension attached. Be aware that she has a claim on this - it becomes part of the trade off. If you have one you will need to get it valued (write a letter to the pension provider and tell them you need a CETV valuation due to divorce).

Please read our disclaimer in which we say we cannot take any responsibility for anything you do based on the above advice.

regards

Wikivorce team