Splitting assets after divorce when wife has quit her job

[Anna713]

Can anyone advise on my sons situation please. He is now divorced and he has sole custody of his daughter. His exwife sees their daughter twice a week but it is supervised and she has no overnights. The matrimonial home is about to be sold but there is no finance order as yet and my son has a court hearing in June. There are no other assets really. Both have pensions of similar value. His wife was working but several months ago she has either been fired or she has quit her job. This is after they were divorced. She was supposed to pay him child maintenance but he has only ever received one month's amount. She is not claiming benefits so he does not get anything at all. The house is in his name and he always paid the mortgage and the bills. He needs as much of the equity as possible to house himself and his daughter. He will be living with me until this is all sorted. His ex is living with a boyfriend and getting money from her family. Has anyone any advice on how a judge is likely to rule? They are both 40+ and live in the UK. Thanks

I should mention he had offered to split the assets 50/50 but she refused and thinks she will get more because she's no longer working

You son needs to get a consent order. They agree the detail themselves, through mediation, lawyers and / or a court. But it needs to be signed offf in court. All assets and debts will need to be declared and divided according to need.

The sooner he does this the better. The house maybe in his name but it became a marital asset when they married as did everything else they personally own.

I think you have asked this before and the answer is the same. Your son won’t find a shortcut and he can’t use that money to buy a house because his ex will have a claim on the new house.

Thanks LemonTT. Yes, I have asked this question before and you kindly responded Things have changed slightly because we now know she has quit her job.He has taken your previous advice and gone back to a solicitor and got the court hearing in motion. (Mediation didn't work and has been deemed unsuitable) So I know its just a question of waiting to see how the judge decides to split the assets really. I just hoped someone might suggest a likely outcome in the circumstances.

It doesn't make a difference that she's quit her job. He shouldn't be selling the house, it's a marital asset.

She has agreed that the house is to be sold . Tbe conveyancing solicitor will keep the equity until the judge decides an outcome

In terms of splitting the assets, it will probably go off her "earning potential". If she's previously worked then probably off what she previously earned. Unless there's some sort of good reason why she could never earn this again, like serious mental illness, disability etc.

If your son has majority custody (is this ordered through court), he might get a bigger share? But 50/50 is the starting point. Even if she only has their child a couple of days a week she still needs to house them just the same.

Does he not have a solicitor to advise him of this?

For child maintenance go through CMS. Court order only valid for 12 months anyway. If she's not earning and living off family, it's wrong but there isn't anything they will do about it (you only have to read on here about the many, many men that do it to purposefully avoid paying). If she claims benefits and not working it's something stupid like £7 a week.

Thanks for responding. My son has sole custody, not majority custody. His ex wife can only see her daughter at her parents house. He has gone through cms but they can do nothing. I am worried that she will claim mental illness as a reason she isn't working. Not that stops her alcohol and drug abuse or beauty treatments and holidays but she might claim she is unable to work due to her mental health. My son does have a very good solicitor but he tries to contact her only when strictly necessary because every contact costs a lot of money. Its all a nightmare really.

No that's fair enough, solicitors are very expensive!

In what way are you worried about her not working? Is it because he is worried she will get a bigger share of the martial pot? Or is it because of the child maintenance ?

It's really hard to say what a court would order with the martial finances because both need to house themselves. They try and make it as fair as possible. I personally couldn't see her getting a bigger share if your son has sole custody, but she'll get something.

It's not actually called custody in the UK- does your son have a lives with order?

The maintenance, it's a crap system but unfortunately nothing can be done if she's not working :(

Yes, he's worried she will get a bigger share of the equity, which isn't much anyway. It is a lives with order he's got. I can never remember the correct term. Thanks again.

In my divorce, I received 80% of the assets because my ex dicked around with court, trying to use it as a weapon against me, and I was the primary carer for our child. The court will view her being out of a job as a temporary affair and will expect her to make attempts to look for work.
at a minimum, he will get 50% as he needs to house a second person but I would put money on him getting more. His focus in all his witness statements needs to be about housing both himself and most importantly, the child, not what she deserves or not.

Thanks curious79. That's really helpful. She is certainly dicking about. She is refusing to collect what she wants from the house now, although my son has told her she can take the lot if she wants it. He has removal people coming in next week. I dont know if he is within his rights to dump it if she doesn't turn up or to take it round to her parents house.