Maintenance

Hi
I''ve used the calculator, it''s great. But I don''t understand if I had assets before getting married and my husband didn''t, I now list them within the calculator and ultimately it comes out with a maintenace figure. My husband says that he is still entittled to 50% of my assets and that is just the maintenance figure. I understood it differently. Please can anyone explain? Thanks

Firstly the calculator is a blunt tool and doesn''t show the real picture.

To get a better idea of what you would entitled to ''ring-fence'' your assets. You would need to post.

Both your ages

Length of marriage

Both your incomes

No of children

If children- where will they live.

Value of house / amount of equity in property

Value of other assets including pension shares.

pooh03 wrote:

Hi
I''ve used the calculator, it''s great.

I would perhaps suggest otherwise, it is what it is, a simple (ish) computer program that attempts to resolve and produce a figure on what ultimatly is a very complex situation. It can at times come up with rather strange results.
If you post the following details someone with better knowledge than me can offer thoughs on what the spit is likley to be


Your respective ages;

The number of children you have and their ages;

How many nights the children spend with each parent;

The length of your marriage and any period of pre marriage cohabitation;

Your respective incomes;

Your respective outgoings;

Your assets - both soley held and joint;

Your liabilities.

LB

To be cynical, I can understand why you think the calculator is '' great '' it seems to be hard wired to produce generous settlements for wives.

I once did a '' dummy run '' and it gave my wife 70% of the assets ( which in our case was probably fair ) and 60% of my income would go in spousal maintenance .

As LB says, it is not quite that simple. We need more information along the lines previously indicated.

LMM

Hi
we have two children aged 13 and 8
My husband is 52, I''m 47
The plan is 5 nights with me, two with him.
we''ve been married for 16 years
His income £approx £40K (employed by his own company and threatening not to earn as much in future years!)
Mine £25K + £5k rental income
Assets: Home - still shared £350K, awaiting sale - still owe approx £90K, my assets: house £85K, share in parental home £70K, both owned prior to marriage, His assets(or maybe shared) a flat in Spain -lived in by parent, worth approx £90K, we''ve gained since marriage - so probably shared although in his name.
Any help to understand what we should aim for would be great.

Well now, let''s see.
The way I tend to approach cases like this is to try and define what the Courts will be trying to achieve here.
Sometimes I find that the options open to a divorcing couple are very limited. In other cases, there are a number of ways of dealing with it and it''s then a question of what suits you best.
The illustration I use is one that some people find helpful, and it is this. If you think of a pair of old fashioned scales with weights, and a large number of weights of different denominations. It is possible to put different weights on the scales and still achieve balance.
So the first point is child support, and he has to pay that. The amount is usually easy to work out. So whatever he has to pay is a deduction from his income and an addition to yours.
Now when you are looking at incomes, I don''t look at the gross figure. What I need to look at is what the figure will be after separation, and in working that out, you need to look at tax and benefits. I always advise that you need to have a look at tax credits after you separate. At the moment your incomes are assessed jointly. But this will not be so after you separate, therefore you need to see if you can get any more than you receive at the moment.
Now I have to say that I don''t think that spousal maintenance is a possibility for you here ; after CM your incomes are, I think, likely to be too close. A nominal order is a possibility but I would not expect much more.
The next priority is to secure a house for both of you and ideally that should be enough to permit staying access for your children. Now on the face of it you seem better placed than some. You have an equity of £250, say, in the FMH which ( depending on where you live ) should give both of you a start on the housing ladder. In addition you have the rental property.
But I don''t like to advise about housing because I don''t know where you live. What do you mean by a house worth £85K ? Is this available for your occupation or what ?
Pensions come into it too.
So there are assets here and both of you should be decently housed and neither of you should starve, and that''s more than can be said of quite a few divorces.
I am sorry to be rather vague but if you can talk sensibly about these things, you may emerge with a reasonable solution.
LMM

Hi
Thank you. The £85K house was mine before we met. I have let it out throughout our marriage and the income forms the £5K a year I mention as my rental income. He is suggesting that I need to give him 50% of it - sell it, as he doesn''t have the same assets, but if i sell it I reduce my income greatly - which wouldn''t compensate for the 50% less capital gains that i would get! A dilema. I could take less of the marital home, but then that also reduces the kind of house I can buy. Where we live sadly isn''t very cheep and I really want to stay in catchment for the children.
Thanks