Ex husband worth a million and offered me only £7000 financial claim

[AmyJahabee]

Hi all,

I made a financial claim against my ex husband and he offered me £5000 and he is worth almost a million. Is this suppose to be a joke.

we were married for 7 years I was not working at the time so he pay for everything whilst I look after the house, no children involved in the marriage. Is that all I get because I didn’t contribute financially? It’s been 3years since the divorce, he has put in so much lies about me towards his statement. I’m going to decline the offer.

can I just decline or ask for a reasonable amount?

A solicitor would be a good investment here but aim to go back to the table with an agreement that is fair to you both. *Unless there are other factors to be taken into account.

Honestly OP ignore the comments on this about a free ride and get a solicitor. 7 years is not a short marriage. The court will look at the financial needs of both parties, current income and potential future income, and the standard of living during the marriage.

Morally wrong has nothing to do with what the law says. Have a 30 mins free consultation and make sure you do not fall into a trap with lawyers. £7000 looks definitely too little but check out properly.

You've had some sound advice on here so far, OP. But there's a lot of additional information missing to really get the full picture.

I'm assuming that if you were not working because you were studying for most of the 7-year marriage period, then you weren't just doing a couple of GCSEs and have now got a professional qualification. If this is correct then I imagine people are also assuming that you have a fairly decent job. Do you have a mortgage, or high housing rent? What factors mean you can't afford a solicitor currently?

If you can outline your situation since the marriage finished so that people can better understand your circumstances, it might help with the advice you are getting.

FWIW, I can only imagine the responses on here if an ex-husband posted and said "My wife is worth a million, I stayed home and never worked when I was married to her, we don't have kids but she's only offered me 7k three years down the line"!!!!

Is your name on mortgage /deeds?
Who ended it and why?
7000 is a pretty good offer to set you up on a new rental

If OP was a man divorcing a woman I doubt there would be so many people encouraging her to get a solicitor. From what she has said her husband supported for 7 years while she studied, she had no children and contributed nothing to the marriage and hasn't contributed to his wealth through her studies. She hasnt said she was prevented from working.

If you haven't got any money, ask if you can see a solicitor under Legal Aid or a one off payment for an hour's chat and advice. On paper, it doesn't sound like you have contributed anything financially and have benefited from being able to study.

However, if your husband at any point made it clear he didn't want you to work ie he liked you being at home to clean, cook, do garden while he was at work, meaning he didn't need to do those things in the evenings/weekends so you could spend more time together, that's something you might be able to argue your case about.

You’re saying £7000, then that works out to be £1000 for every year you were married which considering you never contributed to anything other then food seems like a good deal!

This has to be a wind-up, surely?

No one can really think they are entitled to anything after no contribution, no kids and the divorce has already gone through?!

I don't understand why you should get anything? He housed you and supported you through education and you contributed nothing.

I am not familiar with the financial or legal aspects of divorce, but I was wondering if a financial settlement was included when you divorced three years ago? I'm puzzled as to why you are making a claim now that you are already divorced.

But I am sure someone will help me understand.

From a seven year marriage with no children and zero financial contribution. Seriously ????.

Why would she get half of the house?

I thought after marriage everything is pooled in a divorce, unless there was a pre-nup or all the money was his before you married (and even then I'm not sure) you should be entitled to up to half, and up to half of his pension pot too.

Talk to a solicitor and Citizen's advise. Love it when people say you were just sitting at home, if you were looking after the house you were working, did he pay you as a housekeeper, cook and general dogs body or was that all for free for seven years?

Yep if you flip it and it’s a man moving in with a woman, not working for the entirety of the marriage while she paid for everything….

cocklodger would be most of the responses…

OP was the equivalent of a cocklodger.

Ignore the judgments- you need to go and speak to a solicitor and see what the options are. No-one here can give you advice with the information you’ve provided.

‘cocklodger would be most of the responses…’

what people might judge versus what the law says are two entirely separate things.

You'd be better off posting in legal OP, ignore the 'you should get nothing' parade. 7 year marriage, could easily be a 10 year relationship which is not short. Financial split is based on several factors including what people need. A judge could well decide that OP is entitled to more than less than 1% of the marital assets. He's being ridiculous. If he was offering 100K maybe not worth the battle, but for 7K? Even with legal costs you'd likely come off far far better.

Get a lawyer and ignore comments on here, an opinion on mumsnet is not the same as the law. Solicitors give free advice then can be funded by a promise to pay them out of the money you get from ex.

And as to judgy pants people on here saying OP is in the wrong for wanting anything, that's not how it works. There are plenty of situations where one partner puts their life on hold and they agree to a traditional male breadwinner model, the law recognises this and doesn't leave women with nothing (which is what happened in the old days).

For example, say OP's husband was a lawyer working in Hong Kong or in the forces, moving around all the time. Often a partner would travel around too and find it hard to work because of this. Or they might have just agreed OP would look after the house and ex would earn the money, her contribution would be all the domestic stuff she did over the years, kids or not.

Which means - you don't get to retrospectively say a spouse should have worked and therefore isn't entitled to anything. If you don't want to support someone who isn't in paid work, you sort it out there and then.

I hope you get a lot more than £7k out of him OP, that's peanuts.

Op ring a solicitor, ask if they'll accept fees from your settlement at the end but make sure you have representation.

These envious comments! Yikes.

We have no context as to why the OP was a housewife. Some men want this, push for this. Someone to keep the place immaculate, cook, be at their beck and call. Usually as part of some sort of control.

OP, get a solicitor to look into your case. How else do you expect to get anything more from him?

Are you British and living in the UK? Is there anything cultural affecting this situation? I'm asking because this changes the law and / or the way it's viewed in society and how your exDH operates. More info would help people to advise you better.

Basically only a solicitor can help you. I presume you can counter-offer against the £5K (or £7K ?) and it's a negotiation but why has this taken 3 years?

You need a solicitor. As others have said, you can’t afford not to. Borrow the money if needs be.

This needs to be dealt with by the courts but I would imagine £7000 is as derisory as you think it is. 7 years isn’t a short marriage.

Was it a legal marriage or a just a religious one?