spoual maintenance

[bossmum41]

due in court in two weeks and have to put to ex a proposal including a figure for spousal maintenance, have worked out what goes in and goes out of the house and leaves me with a shortfall, do I ask him for this amount ?
have tried asking solicitor who repeats herself and even asked her straight how much shall I ask for and still im baffled.
what would a reasonable figure be to ask for? he doesn't earn a mega wage. anyone been through this?

[mumblechum1]

You need to look at it from both sides:

1. What is the shortfall between your income without SP and your essential outgoings
   

then

1. Looking at his finances, can he afford to pay that sum and still pay for his own outgoings?
   

As I'm sure you will have been advised, SP is quite unusual these days and is almost always time limited, with the expectation that you'll use the time you receive SP to try to become independent. Easier said than done, I know!

[bossmum41]

i am independent running my own business,but ex is not letting me have house wants us to sell even though he has other properties in his name only. he has a big pension and shares.earns more than me but not a huge amount, he wont be able to afford the shortfall and pay child maintenance and survive so I thought I would ask for a bigger part of pension and for him to sign over the house to me. solicitor just keeps going for the sp, yet wont give me a decent figure.

[mumblechum1]

Personally I'd suggest in that case that you leverage dropping your SP claim (which will die a death if your husband stops working!) against the capital assets you're pushing for.

[tb]

Change your solicitor? Then find one that will go for a bigger proportion of his capital assets. As you've been married the other properties in his name would form part of the assets of the marriage I would have thought.