Child and spousal maintenance

[Pan1974]

Hi All

I'm not sure how to go about working these out. I will off course seek professional legal advice but In the meantime I was trying to work out what might be a reasonable settlement.

We have a house that we own 50/50 so assuming I get half the equity on that

We have very little savings so not worried about that

This is the complicated part... we own a limited company together 50/50 shareholders. It's primarily his business in that he's the one who goes out to work and I am a stay at home Mum. On paper though we earn the same amount!!! If we were to divorce I couldn't continue with the business and would be earning zero from this but he could easily carry on and obviously his earnings on paper would go up as he would be earning my share. How is this handled in a settlement?? He is threatening that if I divorce him he will just stop working so I can't claim anything from him!! But from what I understand the courts won't see this in a very good light as he will still have the potential for earning this sort of money whereas I wouldn't.

Also what is the percentage for child maintenance these days?? I have a spreadsheet with all our outgoings etc which is very high!!! But I'm guessing a lot of the 'luxuries' will be cut out like healthcare and life insurance etc..?

Any advice especially on the joint ownership of a limited company after divorce would be appreciated xx

So the premise for divorce settlement is needs of children and past life style however this is then highly dependant on there being sufficent income/capital to meet needs of 2 households.Typically however the parent with care of children will receive more capital (if needed) to house the children but it also depends on your h 's ability to get a mortgage.

Your children ages, your age and earning capacity is taken into account.
Cms is the basic amount but if your h is a higher earner >150k (I think) then you can apply to court for a top up.

If you are not earning you will be entitled to child benefit and tax credits.

A good place to start is your budget, less tax credits etc and cms payments.If your h can pay the delta from earnings and still support himself and children then it's obviously easier.

You should also look at pensions.Courts I'm told are generally in favour of clean breaks however high house prices are seeing a return of mesher orders.

Cms is typically payable to finishing A levels but you can seek payments til 21.
Assume you are early 40s? Judges would be realistic about your ability to go back to the workplace however you will need to show some earning potential even if not entirely self funding.

My solicitor says some men are so bitter that they will give up work however when reality hits most won't.
're the company I assume you can get it valued and this would be taken into account.

I would say your situation might be more complex so make sure you solicitor has experience of complex finance situations.

You will still own 50% of the company, unless he buys back your shares in some way. Unless it's a very large, well-established company, it's likely not worth very much though.

Re. the company - if he's been paying you a salary and you haven't been working in the business - well, you're not supposed to do that so I wouldn't go shouting about it, but tell your solicitor obviously. (It's a common way of reducing tax but HMRC frown on it: www.taxinsider.co.uk/760-Tax_Implications_of_Employing_Family_Members.html ) If he takes money out of the company as dividends and you mean you receive 50% of dividends, those you are entitled, and you will continue to be entitled to them as long as you own the shares. But he could just stop issuing dividends.

What he could also do (probably more likely than just giving up work) is start a new company and move everything to that (or become self-employed). Especially easy to do if it's just a small business.

Agree with PP, you need proper legal advice sharpish.

Thank you so much for your reply.. really helpful x

I get a nominal salary from the company and do some administrative work for it perhaps sums up to 1 to 2 days a week. The rest I receive in dividends. It's all done above board through accountants. So I'm not worried from that side of it... it was just what happens after the divorce and you have answered for me nicely and given me some ideas to look into.

Will definitely seek legal advice I just wondered if anyone was in the same position or had any experience of this.

Thank you again 😊