STBX reducing his income by 80% before completing Form E

[Tex111]

Have been waiting three months for STBX to complete his Form E. Now learned that he's changing jobs and reducing his income by almost 80% (£400,000 to £90,000). I was a SAHM for over twenty years and can't support myself yet. I've started a new career that takes time to build and have been applying for jobs but getting nowhere.

I'm slightly freaking out as I feel so helpless. My solicitors think this is a calculated ploy on STBX's part to reduce my settlement and say I should take him to court. We've got two kids at uni. Anyone else been through something similar? What did you do?

We sold the family home in '22 and I have a small flat that's less than half the size of the previous house, but I have bedrooms for both kids. DD lives with me. I don't want to lose this flat. It's home now. The kids and I both need this stability. I'm also near my support network in London and would struggle without them if I had to move somewhere cheaper.

I think STBX is trying to punish me for something even though he caused the split. Feeling so anxious about it all.

It doesn’t matter what his motivation is, though. He’s entitled to do it. And a job that pays £90k is far more than most XH’s will earn, even if it is way less than he earned before.

OP needs to sort out an asset and pension split, and there may be a small element of spousal maintenance for a bit, but it won’t stop her needing to work as well as write, like most authors need to.

These jobs really do not need qualifications……

Did you not read the OPs post listing the full time jobs she’s applied for?

Not ongoing. Half everything at time of divorce, maybe. It's not always a 50/50 split. And not half of everything going forward after divorce (or £70k a year!). If she believes that she's in for a real shock. Divorce is severance of ties. Emotional, financial etc

Nope. And what she's applied for is irrelevant, she needs to apply for more not spend her time writing books, until she secures a job. It's either that or she lives off her savings/divorce settlement/book income until she's broke then claims universal credit. Like everyone else who's unemployed.

I feel for her, life can be shit and men can be shitter. But acting like she's got any rights to a say in what job her ex does, attempting to discuss it with him like her opinion on it counts for anything, thinking she's got rights to be supported by him or the DC have rights for him to pay their way through university etc is deluded and the sooner she realises that the better, so she can plan realistically for her future.

Ditto her comments about her ex paying for solicitors with their savings, acting like he can't do that and it'll never happen, when of course he can and it'll mean there's less to share out between her and the ex at the end.

It's no use moaning about not being able to afford to live in a certain area but not wanting to move, wanting to subsidize adult DC living at home whilst at university but not being able to afford that either. It's shit yes, but what does she think any other single mother with limited income does? She'll have to cut her expenses to fit her income.

Goodness me he's been playing you......

Assets and income in the 12 months from a signed form E count. That's it. If he draws this out and delays signing forcing you to take him to court then he could well be disposing of any assets in his name and his new job might be 12 months in by the time he signs.

Please get belt and braces legal advice. This part is worth paying for. Get the best in the area and listen to them.

Next see a financial advisor and go through the current marital assets. That is everything you or he own as far as you are aware.

I think he's played you properly, now is the time to face this injustice head on. You are very vulnerable and it sounds like he's got a good solicitor.

@Happyharper not all husbands are bad ones. But just don't leave yourself vulnerable. If you are not married come back and get advice on here.

Always keep a hand in whatever your career path is. Update regularly and don't whatever you do give up work because it's cheaper for you to be the main care giver.

Insist that child care fees are divided equally between you both. The children both your responsibility.
British law will NOT Protect You if he decides to leave. It's a shambles.

If you run into issues returning to work come back to Mumsnet for help.

If your DS is at uni he is over 18 and should be giving money directly to DS to pay for his fees and maintenance. Why would he be giving that money to you? He should pay CMS until your DD is 18. Then he should pay money directly to her for her gap year and Uni. They are lucky he is going to find them because it looks like you are not earning enough to help them. You should get a full time job. A judge would be asking you why you can't apply for full time jobs when your DC are both 17 and over 18. You would be entitled to half his pension and half the joint savings. If he wants to cut back on working and can manage himself on £70k then that is up to him. You need to focus upon getting yourself a full time job. Do you have a mortgage payment to make or is the flat paid for?

Oh my god! You are completely right. The lawyers on this thread, my lawyers. The law is in fact wrong.

Starting point of 50% in a long 20 year marriage is so wrong.
All wrong.

So sorry. Thanks for correcting me.
I will tell the judge.

I wouldn't be surprised if OP got more than 50% of the existing assets. But there don't really seem to be a lot of existing assets, considering the previous household income. No cash or investments to speak of, an okay but hardly spectacular pension, multiple properties but little equity. I agree that the BTLs should be sold and split and OP will probably get the current flat and a big chunk of the pension, but significant spousal is very unlikely to happen and OP will have to fund daily living and top up her pension herself.

@AdriftAbroad1 no idea what you’re in about

the starting point is 50% of all assets. But the award might be more or less- it’s not an automatic straight split and judge has huge discretion to split as they see fit.

there is no automatic right to ongoing support. Some cases may qualify, others not. And 50% ongoing is not going to happen, neither is 70k pa

@Happyharper do you plan on not returning to work at all citing 'childcare' even when both kids are late teens and one doesn't even live at home? If not you'll be OK I'd assume!

Court looks at earning potential if the parties and in circumstances where XH has reduced income from £400k to £90k, unless he can prove that that wasn't voluntary, his earning potential of £400k will be taken into account when determining the split of assets and any spousal maintenance.

Whilst it's POSSIBLE that - as some kind-hearted PP have said - he just wants to have more free time now, the timing of that decision is suspect and I'd strongly expect that once the ink's dry on the financial order, he will magically return to a higher earning position. That's why you want to avoid a clean break and have provision for nominal spousal maintenance, which you can revisit when he returns to higher earning.

I was being 100% sarcastic!
Of course the starting point is 50%. For some reason PPs want to scare the already scared OP. By spouting nonsense.

I have consistenly said starting point is 50% from the word go. But people seem to be bitter about this for some strange reason.

Of course no automatic right to spousal (temporary) maintenance. But, IMO quite likely, for a limited time.(As OPs lawyers have said)

Your advice is always 100% tip top. You have helped me personally, massively btw on other threads. Thankyou.

@CyanTiger , why are you on this thread? Why are you quoting responses out of context?
Why bother?

50% is the starting assumption. HALF, could be more. Could be less.

The point is

op is entitled yo a fair share of all
assets. This could be more or less than 50%

in high earning cases there may be a entitlement to spousal ( unlikely em79k is especially if he’s not earning that!) equally if there are enough assets courts may order clean break and none

op should have a level of reality in regards

her needs
her spending
her ongoing reliance on an ex who could quit job at any time in the future
her adult children

And OP, I know you don't particularly want to hear this, but you're going to need to be more realistic about the jobs you apply for. Event planning and museum work aren't going to happen with 20 years out of the workforce, I'm sorry. Entry level admin will be hotly contested by people with current work experience. You do need to look at supermarket and other customer service type jobs. Writing is unlikely ever to provide a liveable income and your pension probably needs attention, especially since you won't even have been getting NI credits towards it in the last ~7 years.

If he changes jobs to 90k then ups it and op has nominal sm included, she’d need to apply for a variation. This may or not be successful. Courts would als look to understand what steps op is doing/has taken to improve her own finances to reduce burden on ex.
even if op ex is earning 400k, half of that will be lost to tax/ni: etc so call in 200k - of which op thinks she should get 70k so nearly half of his ongoing earnings- nobody in their right mind would continue to work to do that

It is possible to get ' maintenance ' for the children until they have finished higher and or further education - it will take a good solicitor to get that written into ' the paperwork ' and it is likely due to the age of the children that it would be paid to them rather than Mum ?

and before many of you jump up and down and say child maintenance finishes at 18, I said ' possible ' and btw I got it ! but not thru CMS.

It’s not likely on 70k salary, and while people can have it written into a consent order, all the NRP has to do is file a claim with the CMS after 366 days and the CM part of the consent order is nullified. The CMS timescales then override it.

They need relevant experience though.

Quick observation, for what its worth... as someone suggested earlier in the thread.. if you agree a nominal £1 maintenance 'retainer' in case of change of financial circumstances, that works both ways. If he decides to stop working at all (maybe from squirrelling away all those thousands of pounds he has earned over the years) when you become a famous author and are bringing in the cash, I assume he can get a chunk of your earnings?

Cut and run, move on and concentrate on your new fabulous life!! Shame this site is anonymous, you could promote your book :-)