Wage increase after separation but before divorce

[Shodan]

I am still waiting for STBXH to provide his financial details for the divorce application. He demanded that I hurry to find a solicitor in January, which I duly did, but he still hasn't provided the necessary details.

He wanted to avoid doing a Form E, which I agreed to at the time, as I considered that he was making a generous offer. But I now have reason to believe that his wage has increased considerably from what it was 3 years ago when we separated.

I never really knew what his financial situation was when we were together, although I do know his wage at one point was in the low 6 figures. I have wondered, from time to time, if he is delaying to avoid declaring his full financial details somehow. Is this possible?

What happens if his salary has increased significantly? The amount he gives me now in maintenance is reasonable, given the low 6 figure salary, but if it has increased, does he have to offer maintenance to reflect that?

If your divorce is going to include a consent order (likely in your situation as your ex is a high earner) then yes he does have to declare his wage increase and pay more than he is now.

You can apply for a consent order if you have started the divorce process but have not had your decree absolute yet.

I would advise it as CMS can be useless at times

Thank you AMAM8916, that's useful information, I appreciate it.

Just want to add that he may try to go the route of financially settling without a consent order in order to leave CM out of it.

Ask for a consent order. It does mean that long term, you'd have no rights over any money he comes into (you wouldn't anyway with a divorce in most cases) but it secures assets and CM right now and is legally binding so if he doesn't pay, you can take him to court for breaching the consent order. You can't do that with CMS. You'd have good peace of mind with a consent order

Any increase whether wage or lottery win is not considered marital after seperation.

In Scotland this is why the relevant date is important. I'm not sure about English law but I'm confident the same rule applies.

This is a question for lawyer. Basically any loss or profit after seperation is not included in the pot

Any increase whether wage or lottery win is not considered marital after separation

That's interesting. The reason he was pushing to go without a Form E was because he said my (relatively small) inheritance from my father (who died after we separated) would be taken into account. He made it sound like he was being generous to me.

My solicitor did advise me that it wasn't part of the marital pot, but XH has a history of trying to bamboozle me wrt finances.

Good to know the lottery win wouldn't be counted though. I plan to win the Euro millions at some point...

Would that mean then, theoretically, that he could quadruple his income and not have to increase the child maintenance?

I'm in Scotland too and I don't know what PP means but a wage increase even after divorce, not just separation, would always have a bearing on child maintenance, it's reviewed annually.

And also, separation means nothing with the pot of assets either. My grandfather was separated from his wife for 45 years when he died, they never divorced and she got his pension and a chunk of his estate as well. A legal separation however may have a different bearing but then usually that's more so a financial split can be done without a divorce or where two people will stay financially tied due to mortgage etc