Best Time to Start of Financial Negotiations?

Hello everyone. I am going through a no-fault divorce and the 2 years is up in Feb 2020.

My stbx does not work but said she wants to retrain in September. At the moment I work overseas but still pay 100% of everything.

My own calculations show that considering child care payments (1,200 per month for 3 kids) and me paying maintenance in the form of 50% of the mortgage until the house is sold (1,000 per month), she will have to work to make ends meet. We have a huge mortgage and it is impossible for her to buy me out. I would also prefer a Clean Break when the house is sold, likely to be in 2022 when our youngest child starts high school. She would walk away with about 75,000 based on 50:50 split as it was a medium/long marriage (13 years), which is enough for a deposit to get house or she can rent until the kids are older then get a smaller place. She would earn between 25k to 30k a year when she starts working full time.

My question is do you think it is best to start financial settlement negotiations now/soon to have a better chance of agreement and we are both clear before filing for divorce or leave it until after filing?

I am thinking of sending my proposal to a lawyer to review, to ensure it is fair/reasonable before tabling the proposal to my stbx at some point in the form a a draft Consent Order for discussion.

Any comments are appreciated.

As yours is intended to be a divorce by mutual consent, I would hope that filing the petition would not create undue tension.

It is a good idea to discuss the finances early but you cannot have a legally binding financial settlement until the Decree Nisi is in place.

Without knowing more about your finances - income, value of house, size of house, pension provision, other assets, liabilities - it is hard to comment on what a fair settlement could look like.

You can get an opinion on here if you can provide more information. You may also want to look at the various services offered by this site, including financial consultation.

NB You may find spousal maintenance would be a factor, at least while she retrains and finds a new job. As you are currently paying all costs, you have shown that you have the ability to pay.

Hadenoughnow

Thank you for the feed back. I think I will go for a financial consultation before making any proposal for financial settlement.