Asset division and spousal maintenance

[LancLancs1]

First time posting, so please bear with me.

I've been separated from my husband for around 2 months. I still live in the FMH with our 4 & 2 yr old children. He's currently paying me the full £450 a month in child maintenance as he's chosen to live somewhere where he can't have the children overnight.
I earn £600 a month, he earns £2500 a month. We have £100k capital in our house. £75k of which came from the sale of my house which I bought before we met. He has a pension pot, how much is in this I don't yet know.

After seeking some advice it was suggested that I keep the house and he keeps his pension. But should I be asking for spousal maintenance too?

Has anyone got any advice please?

Hi I don't know re the spousal maintenance but re house and pension that's what I did. I kept house and in return agreed not to touch his pension. Can you pay the mortgage in your own right? Ie to get him taken off it are you going to be able to get a mortgage on your own through your mortgage company? I did give him £5,000 from house really as a sweetener to get judge to agree to our plan.
I didn't have spousal maintenance as we earn same sort of wage.

Hi minime85, thanks for your comment.
I've asked my dad if he'll be a guarantor so that I can take on the mortgage eventually. I'd just about afford to manage that.
My ex has asked to see all of my bank account statements when we go to mediation. Do you think that's reasonable?

I didn't do mediation so not sure how it works. How long is the marriage? Was your advice from a solicitor? I do think you will have to declare earnings. I don't see what you spend your money on has anything to do with him? I'd maybe go with a list of outgoings re the children, utilities etc.

If he isn't having them overnight then he should pay you more than if he doesn't. We used the government on line calculator thing to work ours out and that's what is written into the consent order.

It's only reasonable for him to see your statements if you get to see his, plus pension and any other savings/investments. Maybe take them to the mediation meeting and see what the mediator thinks.

I'm not convinced that the house v pension thing works for you. I can see you struggling to pay the mortgage and expenses while he is much more comfortably off due to the massive disparity in your incomes. You need to know what's in the pension pot and any other savings/investments he has before you can make this decision. Spousal maintenance is one way of making up the shortfall but I think some sort of pension sharing agreement might be a better bet for you. His pension is likely to be worth considerably more than £100k by the time he retires but your ability to build up a decent pension for yourself will be hobbled by your childcare commitments. However, he is entitled to enough for a deposit on a home for himself. You say you've had advice but this can only be very provisional until you have full information about his finances.

I'm not sure that most of the equity in the house coming from your previous house will be taken into consideration as it's all marital assets now but it's worth mentioning in mediation and to your solicitor to see what they think.

There is no substitute for professional legal advice but on the face of it I expect you will be struggling to get spouse maintenance, particularly if you do keep all the equity in the former matrimonial home. If your husband has no equity and needs to save for a deposit, pays rent and then has a large mortgage he wont have any disposable income or ability to pay spouse maintenance after meeting his own living costs and paying child maintenance.

The first thing you need to do is to maximise your income by checking you are receiving all the state benefits you are entitled to and considering ways you could increase your earnings. Then a value of any assets in sole and joint names needs to be established.

When sharing assets housing the children is the priority, but ideally both you and your husband need somewhere the children can stay overnight. Depending on the local property prices, both spouse's mortgage raising capacities and aspirations the former matrimonial home may need to be sold if enough equity to enable you both to rehouse can be raised. Alternatively if you can raise some money you may be able to pay your husband something as a small deposit for new home.

If neither of the options above are viable it may be possible to offset your husband's pension against the equity but pensions are a long term investment and aren't considered as valuable, especially when there are many years before retirement, as other assets which can be sold and turned into ready cash. One option may be for your husband to retain an interest in the former matrimonial home in the form of chargeback. A sale is then triggered when certain conditions are met, usually the youngest child reaching 18, or the parent living in the property remarrying or dying.