Just wanted to see if there was a bit of advice for me, Im struggling to work out what proposal to make my ex partly due to his non-disclosure of all assets/savings and partly because Ive never liked asking for anything but as we have 2 young children I need to ensure they are looked after.
Bit of background, together for 10 years married for 5 and separated for 18 months. 2 children of opposite sex 8 and 3, joint names on the deeds and mortgage of the FH. Equity in house approx £170,000 (after fees paid etc) both have pensions of around £25,000 but I havent worked since our youngest was born and only worked part time after our eldest was born and before I went on maternity again. It was a joint decision as it didnt make sense for me to work and us pay childcare. I have been looking for employment for over a year but with the current crisis it has been impossible for many reasons. When my youngest starts school in September and things have settled down I hope to work part time but it will only be on a minimum wage. I have had advice from a mortgage advisor that I need to earn at least £10,000 per annum to be considered for a mortgage so I have little hope of buying a property when the FH is sold (I cannot take on the mortgage alone). I will need to rent privately and in the area we live in will be at least £1500 per month for a 3 bedroomed house.
I dont have any savings or other assets and no debts.
He will not disclose a savings account that I have flagged up on his Form E (clear evidence there is one which hasnt been disclosed), nor will he provide share valuations that he holds in his families limited company. He also receives dividends on top of his basic wage and whilst these were reduced and have now stopped due to Covid, there is no doubt they will resume but again he will not help matters by giving any indication of when. Without dividends he earns £1350 per month, with dividends and before Covid he was getting £2700 on top so a total of over £4000 a month. He has no other assets (apart from the jointly owned family car worth £2500) or debts.
He has voiced that he wants to settle out of court but I have said I would like a clear idea of our finances before making any decisions. He will not respond to the questionnaire and subsequently the schedule of deficiencies I filed regarding disparities on his Form E. He has also not followed the last court order to answer these.
So basically I am required to make a proposal before our FDR in July but Ive no idea where to start. I am only getting advice from a solicitor as and when so really Im representing myself.
Based on all of this, does anyone have any words of advice? Would asking for 80/20 equity in my favour and not touching our pensions (as they are worth nearly the same amount) be totally unreasonable? That would give him slightly more than a 15% deposit on a £200,000 property (2 bed around here) considering he would be able to then get a mortgage alone. With the non disclosure of shares and savings I have no idea of what he has been putting away this past 18months and if his earnings increase significantly in the near future he will be better off than us anyway.