Can anyone advise?

I have still to reach a financial settlement with with my ex although we are divorced, he has a new partner and I am re-married. I am living in the FMH with my new husband and my ex has brought a new house with his new partner. According to my solicitor the only assets that will be taken into account by the court are the fmh and the endowment policy, she does not think that his private pension and shares in his business that is a limited company that were both brought during the marriage will be taken into account. Can anyone advise me why this is so as they were both purchased during our legnthy marriage? His new house was also brought while we were still married so should his 50% equity also go into the pot? I have no pensions or other assetts.

Many thanks in advance if anyone can advice me on any of this as my solicitor gives advise but does not explain why this advice is given.

Tabs

I'm not sure if i'm qualified to contradict your solicitor but....I am going to anyway.

Bear in mind that as you are remarried you have probably lost any chance of spousal maintenance.

So all you are going to get out of the divorce is a share of the assets.

You had a long marriage.

The assets you mention were all accrued/acquired during the marriage.

I see no reason why they should not all be 'in the pot' and available for the court to share between you.

I think it very likely that when the sharing takes place you will get you share by being awarded all or some of the FMH and endowment.

He will likely get to keep pension and business shares, and possible a portion of the house.


So in my view....ALL the assets are marital and up for grabs.

But when it comes to the sharing, the court will divvy things up so you get house, he gets pension & shares.


But it is very important to fight to get all the assets considered as marital otherwise....he keeps pension and shares.....and the court splits house 50:50 between you.

Hi

Can I just ask here did you put Form A into court BEFORE you remarried? If so then you are ok, if not then you have lost all rights to ask for any orders to be made by the Courts. I.e spousal maintenance, pension sharing ect ect. As DBNO explains in his post. You also lost any rights under his pension such as widows benefit ect.

If you and your ex can agree to split all assets you had or made throughout the marriage amicably then its what you both think is fair.

I think DBNO is right in what he thinks is a fair split and it will probably be about right if the court was to make an order.

To be honest though its all down to your ex, i think your solicitor is right in saying that it will only be the FMH and endownment that gets looked at because of you getting re married. But i think if you can prove all what you say then the rest will be taken into account but you have a fight on your hands if your ex wont play ball.

I hope you and your ex can agree to it all without the need to "fight for every penny"

Kind ones
Louise

Thank you for your reply. This is my feeling that everything should be put into the pot and divided up. As I am remarried I know I am not entitled to spousal maintenance, that is fair enough. I think I am going to have to be strong with my solicitor and insist that she writes stating that we consider all maritial assets go into the pot and then it is divided 50/50.

Has anyone else got any input, a solicitor, maybe?

Thanks for your input also Lousie. I'm happy not to fight for every single penny but need a fair settlement as my new husband and myself are supporting my 3 children on 1 wage with only as small amount of child maintenance. Only 1 of the children is strictly a dependant but as we all know grown up children just out of education find it very difficult to pay their way properley.

Dear Tabs,

DBNO and Lousie (ROFL) are right. You have lost all chance of spouse maintenance by remarrying. I don't know of any rule preventing you applying for a pension sharing order though - pax Louise.

The capital assets are definitely in the pot. The business has to be looked at very carefully. A business can be regarded as a capital asset or as an income generator. It depends on the facts relating to the particular business. Does it depend on his particular personal contribution for its success - e.g. a one-man band, personal skills and flair etc?

It's important because if it has a capital value it's up for grabs - even if you leave it alone and accept a compensating amount of capital from elsewhere to leave it in his hands 100%.

If it's an income generator then you probably lose your rights to an interest in it, because you don't have any rights now to maintenance. So it's in your interest for it to be regarded as a capital asset instead. The relevant case is Re V -v- V but I can't lay my hands on the more detailed case reference right now. Just pray that his solicitor isn't switched on enough to have heard of it! Hope this helps. good luck!

Will C

Thanks Will

His business is an catering company that is a limited company that is based in a large function suite. He employs many staff and his role is manager of the business in conjunction with his new partner. His job was and can be done by other people so the business is not reliant purely on his skills. I would argue that it has capital value though his solicitor maintains that it only generates an income, I will have to wait to see the business accounts that are submitted with his form E.

As I say I don't want to fight for every last penny but just want what is fair for both of us so we can finally put this to bed and get on with our lives.

Tabs