what am i due?

Married 26 yrs, absolute due soon. Only ever worked part time for him in the business, no longer. He says I should be working full time now, not keen on paying maintenance! Have started work part time, not a great earner but happy,
He wants me out of the house I want to stay and may have to take out a small mortgage. His business he says is worth nothing, tho I have evidence of a valuation done 7 yrs ago which he confirms.People are telling me to just take him to court, my solicitor says he would be well advised to settle out of court as we have a lot of info on him which puts him in a bad light. He tells the children 21,uni 18,uni 16 college that if he wins i will have to pay his court costs, he is also wrong on that is'nt he? Trys to intimidate me. He pays me £2.000 a month, i earn £300 a month any ideas on what i could be awarded? Friend recently went thro divorce in november and her 2 kids are 21 and 20 and she was awarded £2.500 maint for life,pension sharing order, car, house (small mortgage). Interested in any advise. Pleased i found this site.

Flower,

Welcome to the site.

The one straightforward question is the one on costs. Assuming that you divorce proceedings commenced after 6th April 2006 then you will be under the new divorce cost rules that (in simple terms) state that each side bears their own costs (verses the old rules where the 'loser' could be ordered to pay some or all of the 'winners' costs).

You can get the business formally valued as part of the ancillary relief proceedings.

I couldnt possibly guess what you will be awarded as you provide no figures (what are your major assets?, what debts?, how much does he earn?, both your ages? pensions?) etc

Take a look at the Divorce Calculator on this site - give it a whirl though be aware it is still in evaluation/testing phase. But it does give you a good idea of all the info you need to provide to get an answer to the "what am i due?" question.

will try but so much involved. thank you for replying i pick up lots of tips and am glad i joined your site. xx

you could try the mediation service, they help to get all that sorted, in a very clear and thorough, fair manner.

Just a comment on the mediation issue,it isn't fair and good for all who use the service unfortunately. I don't want to comment on anyone who has used the facility and found it helpful but in the Bolton area the service is useless and by no means fair!!! Just a word of warning to say if anyone goes down the route of mediation please express any dissatisfaction at all times and never assume they always know whats best,like anything else they also make assumptions and major mistakes. Hope you get it all sorted out and good luck,take care Sherri.

Thanks for your reply. Not at all interested in mediation. Am seeing a solicitor ex wants to talk and agree a deal but taking his time as i think he is about to invest more money in his property business. He feels if it later went to court he could then say he has'nt got the money as he is still paying off a large business loan.Therefore low maintenance for me, feel its time to go to court i am advised to do this,(work colleague told me she went to the same court i would take him to and came out with house, car pension rights and maintenance)as he is i believe hiding or spending money. I have a lot of evidence on him which will put him in a bad light as a character.