Split of finances

My husband is aged 43 I am 49. We have been married for 14 years including living together 17 years. We have one daughter aged 15 living with me currently. We have a house with no mortgage which is worth approximately £340,000 and is in both of our names. He has a pension which I think is currently worth around £150,000. We have very little savings, about £3,000. No car finance, he has a credit card with Barclays (I have no idea of the balance), I have two store accounts Debenhams £450 approx, Next £300 approx. There are no other marital liabilities or assets. His income is around £85,000 per annum plus an annual bonus (last year £10,000 and he takes home around £4320 per month. I have been working for the last 4 years my salary is £8840 per annum. I am leaving work on 31.8.12 to embark on an Access to Nursing course and then a 3-year degree Adult Nursing. I may be able to earn around £90 per week doing bank auxiliary nursing for the next year, but wont be able to work whilst I am doing the degree. He currently rents a flat and his outgoings are approximately £1250 per month (just on the flat), my outgoings on the house are around £650 per month. I have no idea as to what I may receive as maintenance, child support and also a lump sum from the property. Advice would be greatly received please

How big is the house? £340k is quite a high value especially with no mortgage. Your immediate needs are for 2 bedrooms and so are your husband''s. However since you have the majority of the care of your daughter and he has a much higher income, you can certainly expect well over 50%. If you were to downsize the house to a 2 or 3 bed place in your local area, how much would that free up to re-house your husband?

If I were you I would try to get a straight settlement rather than a Mesher. A Mesher may seem tempting since it would allow you to carry on living where you are, but in 3 years time you would be in a worse position than you are now.

I would not expect your husband to be too sympathetic to you giving up work to embark on a degree course. You are currently earning around £9k; yes a degree may be good for your future but you would be sacrificing your present. You cannot expect your ex-husband to fund a degree, or to keep you housed and fed while you give up your own income to do so.

That is not to say you are not entitled to spousal maintenance - you almost certainly are. For a start you''ll get 15% of his income as child maintenance. After that you would balance your income including any benefits against your cost of living, and in these circumstances almost certainly any shortfall will be given to you as SM.

Hi firstly the CSA have an online calculator that that will help you determine the Child maintenance you are due. Has he offered to pay maintenance yet? Work out how much you are due and request this amount or put an application in to the CSA. Maintenance will be payable from when you apply.

How many bedrooms does your house have? How much does a 2 bed property cost in your daughters catchment area.

With such a large difference in incomes the chance of having spousal maintenance (SM)also appears quite likely (at least until you are working) as does some pension share. However it will be dependant on the rest of the asset split. What will your potential income be once you are qualified?

Thanks for that advice. Our house is 3 double bedrooms, I could get a 2 bed flat in the area for around £150,000. So would seem more sensible if he got a mortgage and bought me out rather than have the costs of selling and buying. I understand re university but will qualify for full NHS bursary and will have to get student loan. With good maintenance which I see from your reply is 15% of his income I think I could manage. Once I qualify I will start on a salary of around £22,000. Thanks

Thanks will go on their website. He is currently being very generous and paying me £1300 per month plus the costs of the house, but I appreciate that cant go on forever. A 2 bed flat in the area would be around £150,000, our house has 3 double bedrooms. It would seem sensible for him to get a mortgage and buy me out rather than entail the costs of selling and buying 2 properties, is that an option when doing a settlement? How much pension share would I be entitled to - he says he would rather give me more of a lump sum and me relinquish my right to his pension - is this a good option and how does it get worked out? A newly qualified RGN earns around £22K thanks

Hi have been on CSA only entitled to £139 per week but other person who posted said I am entitled to 15% of his income - this is a great deal more please could you explain Many thanks

CSA is calculated at 15% of income but this is reduced by various factors such as time spent with the father. This maintenance is for the child after all, not for you. If you require maintenance for yourself then that is spousal maintenance which does not follow any kind of formula, it is based on need.

It would definitely be an option for your husband to buy you out of the FMH but you would almost certainly need his cooperation to do this. If he didn''t want to, then he could no be forced to, and the FMH would have to be sold. It would not necessarily be split 50/50, but if £150k would house you then I think 50/50 would in fact be a likely outcome.