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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Low confidence, but DH has such high expectations

165 replies

DogTiredWife · 18/01/2017 22:38

I'm a regular on here, however NCed because this post is very personal. I've been married to DH for six and a half years, we have two DC. DH has a good job earns over £150k per year( in a good year teice that). He has always made it clear he wants our DC to go to private school and now our second child is coming up to that age. We live in London. I have been a SAHM for the last five years. I literally do everything at home and am totally financially dependent on him. Before the DC I worked and earned about £32k a year. However when we met I had some debts quite large ones after being made reundant several times, helping my brother during the recession, a bad friendship with an alcoholic friend who I was too weak to say no too and I had depression, and paid for a hiludau with DH. DH works long hours, mocks me, never does anything for the children, and gives me very little money (£1000 a month) I know to some people this is loads, but we live in huge house in London, he eats like a horse and has loads of allergies and expects me to pay for car maintaince, street parking outside the house £220 per annum, food (read fancy cheese, organic stuff), presents for his family usually £50 a pop, phone and broadband, kids presents, dinner parties, clothes, petrol, any handymen or plumbers and it's an old house so stuff goes wrong often. He pays the mortgage and utilities. But I'm not on the house deeds, it's for the most part paid off. He also has a flat he owns and rents out, I manage the tenants. He is never around in the evenings because he is at work I do everything with the kids, I rarely go out in the evenings, I never feel I can count on him on Saturday's he lies in till 11 then likes to go out yo fancy restaurants for lunch. He rarely plays with the kids but when he does he is good but it's easy to be good when you only do it two hours a week. I cook from scratch everyday, do all housework get up with the kids, always put them to bed etc. He is also a heavy drinker and drinks about half to a whole bottle of wine a night. Awhile back he told me he just has a low libido and maybe it will come back but basically he's not interested, I feel hurt but tbh I've gone off him because he humiliates me. I will never be as clever or earn as much as him, but now he says I must get a proper job by September so I can pay one set of school fees, I'm happy to work but I feel division of money is quite uneven if I have to pay school fees probably around £20000 a year when you factor in uniforms, transport and school lunches. AIBU to think this is all a bit unfair. He also has lots of savings, investments and a big pension pot. He cancelled the joint accpunt because he thought I was having a negative impact on his credit rating. When I say joint account he put money in and never used it but kept track on everything I spent and ig I had toask for extra money he makes me grovel, when we opened it he said, if you need more just ask but it hasn't been like that.

Sorry about the long ramble but do you think I'm being unreasonable to be a bit taken aback about paying one set of school fees? I know I'll still do everything else at home too, I don't know where to start with a job he always laughs at what I say, patronizes me and I hust feel soo useless.

OP posts:
SheldonCRules · 20/01/2017 07:32

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

icy121 · 20/01/2017 07:49

@Dogtiredwife
Sorry haven't RTFT so don't know ins and outs of what happened when you left him last time.

However please read this:

www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed142264

It's a recent ruling on divorce with sums at your sort of levels, asset splitting and maintenance. Him being a high earner and you not and being a very full time wife to be honest puts you in a fairly strong position re an asset split.

icy121 · 20/01/2017 08:12

By strong I mean you stand to walk away from the marriage with a lot more than you put in, financially. Emotionally is a different question.

He will be expected to fund a house for you, you will be able to get child maintenance until the kids are either 18 or 21 if in FT education, you'll probably be able to wangle spousal maintenance until they're 18, or for a few years until you work. You can go for his pension, but it's unlikely they'll give you that. If he gets a big, but irregular bonus, you might be able to get c 30% of that net. The fact he has a BTL flat (albeit don't know what the position is re mortgage or whatever), will mean that there is more money in the pot. As a county judge said to my OH in a "2nd go" hearing (exW got a £1m mortgage free house, 3k a month + RPI and had £60k in her current account, but as OH salary had increased -plc so public knowledge- she went back saying circumstances changed and she wanted more) "there is plenty of money sloshing around here". Which to be honest is offensive - my OH works damned hard for the money, and in the period between the divorce and now she hasn't provided any support to help him succeed. In fact, she's been a hinderance - - insists he does all pickups and drop offs (so in and out of work late/early frequently) as "it doesn't fit her schedule".

(Sorry I started ranting - the next bit is a total derail!!)
She still doesn't work, but has a gym habit (OH pays the membership, obv).

She kicked OH out when the kids were 1.5 and 3, the month after he paid the mortgage off. He didn't financially abuse her, he gave her a credit card and didn't query a penny. So it's an entirely different situation - and sorry for ranting because despite this being 8 years ago, she's still a spectre over us and our lives - - but from a financial position it's similar. She earned 35k, gave up work when she had kids. He earned 150k+. She has been set up for life now, and has as another 10 years of £5k a month to save up. Has a new partner but lied to the court ("casual we've only seen each other a bit" ie he rents a flat around the corner, stays at hers when he doesn't have his kids, they go on bit family holidays and have done so for 4 years) and the court didn't care.

(End rant)

So basically, if you can be in a relationship which to all intents and purposes is decent (no financial or emotional abuse, she admitted "when we got married I didn't think it would be forever") and still go into divorce with both barrels and walk away with lots, then if you've been treated a pretty shabbily there is more incentive to push harder to take him down so to speak.

Can't comment on rights and wrongs (I am sickened by the exW behaviour tbh, it's entirely money driven and I think she doesn't always put her kids interests above her own financial ones) but the system is set up and you could take him for all he's got.

kittybiscuits · 20/01/2017 08:16

I reported Sheldon!

kittybiscuits · 20/01/2017 08:17

Ffs icy start your own thread!

Twinkletwinkle1977 · 20/01/2017 08:25

Bit harsh kitty - what she's saying is relevant to the op (although she's clearly been brainwashed by her oh)

Twinkletwinkle1977 · 20/01/2017 08:28

Any why on earth report Sheldon - what she/he says is a valid viewpoint had well within talk guidelines. Sort yourself out pls rather than jump on other pp having a normal chat.

Aeroflotgirl · 20/01/2017 09:00

sheldon ATAF are you on! Forget about who is working and who is not, his behaviour towards op is unacceptable, mocking her, bashing her confidence! She obviously is the low earner, very low in comparison to him, so it makes sense for her to give up her job, and look after the kids. If he wants her to work, than he can pay for a nanny, or CM, its about give and take. He wants his cake, and eat it. Of course he was in bits when op left first, because it will inconvenience him, and cost him a hell of a load of money. He wants op in her box and to stay there.

icy121 · 20/01/2017 12:43

Naff off kitty, it is relevant to the OPs position.

Not brainwashed, just what I witnessed. Having her send a letter via her solicitor to me personally to demand full disclose of my income and assets as well so she could put that in her pot when making a second claim was a low point tbh.

Lots of women have a very financially shit time with divorce. ExW isn't one of them!! And from the thread there's no reason why op should be one of them either.

Catlady1976 · 25/01/2017 08:06

People seem to forget that having a sahp makes live easier for the wohp too. No panic when kids are ill. Not having to do housework or laundry. Not having to rush home to collect DC from wraparound. Knowing someone can sort your prescription, the car service, take the Kidd to all there medical and dental appointments, get up in the night.........
Yes the Sah gets a stress free life but the woh gets a relatively stress free life too.
Agree it makes sense when there is a huge disparity in earnings.

TitaniasCloset · 27/01/2017 00:29

Op do stay in touch with us if you can, without revealing too much. Please take the good advice too. Flowers

DJBaggySmalls · 27/01/2017 00:55

DogTiredWife, please go back and read Fidelia's post on Page 5.

Please dont pay attention to the people trying to derail the thread and side with your abusive OH, this isnt the time or place for that discussion.
Best of luck Flowers

urbansprawl · 27/01/2017 01:35

Hello OP! I'm just wading in from the legal side (seeing as your DH seems to be a disputes solicitor).

First of all, he married you, so I'm another one willing to be that you're cleverer than you give yourself credit for. He's just chipped away enough at your confidence enough for you to doubt it, that's all.

If your DH is used to working on commercial disputes then yes, the devil may well be in the detail. He'll be disappointed to find that family courts are much more principle-based than commercial courts, though: if commercial courts are considering 'what went wrong, and how can this person be put in the position that they should be in if everything had gone as it was supposed to', family courts are more along the lines of 'this is the situation we're in, how can we meet everybody's needs / make things fair in the future'. It's a subtle distinction, but it means that a lot of his commercial litigation habits/arrogance won't hold any water with a family judge.

Do make sure you have an excellent solicitor though. Look at the Chambers guides. You'll need somebody who is used to dealing with ego-riddled high earners and putting them back in their box, and potentially cutting through complex asset structures too.

You'll be brilliant. Just bide your time for the moment, act normal, and assemble your arsenal of evidence.

KERALA1 · 27/01/2017 13:25

Great advice urban

butterfly990 · 27/01/2017 15:34

This is a tool that is used to assess emotional abuse. It might be useful to try it out.

www.mosaicmethod.com/

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