Financal settlement

[JWA]

Hello,
Ive just started the divorce application. I have instructed a solicitor to help agree financial settlement. (England)
Myself and my husband will remain in the marital home while discussions take place.
We will each receive a share of the home equity and i will recieve a share of my husbands pension.
We have 2 DC. I would describe myself as the main carer of children on a routine basis as husband travels spontaneously for work.
He has told me he wants 50/50 child care plan after divorce but won't change anything now.
I work part time earning under £17000 (hours to suit childcare) he works full time earning over £60000.

My question is will I still receive a higher equity share if we have children 50/50?
He thinks I'm being greedy for wanting more than 50% equity!

Some equity share examples would be great.
Thank you

You'll receive no child maintenance if 50/50

The equity ensures you can both be housed according to need.

You both need homes suitable for the children to stay.

However he can afford more as he’s the higher earner.

It really needs a judge.

Do some leg work, local rentals, housing costs etc and see what’s available to put before the judge.

wgat are your relative net incomes? Eg if you worked full time, had child benefit and uc top up what income bs your ex would that be? That’s what will be used to assess your needs.

what equity and pensions are there? That will guide the %. % split in isolation if that is meaningless - you won’t automatically get more if there is enough assets that 50:50 provides needs- if it doesn’t you could see higher outcome depending on what’s in the pot and both parties needs ( and his housing needs are equal )

Income, UC and CB would come to £2200pcm (with my current working hours)
I plan to add some self employed income in the future to future around my children but this will take time to build.

Husband income is around £4000pcm

Pension over £100000
Equity around £180000

Does the solicitor not help guide what a judge may decide if it ever went to court?

This isn't true if there is a large income disparity.

Saying that, op will be expected to work full time unless exes schedule makes this impossible in which case court would likely adjust equity more in her favour.

With exes schedule is it even possible for him to do 50/50? I believe that you can challenge 50/50 if it's unreasonable. If for example he is planning on using a nanny or family members for childcare to cover his trips then there's an argument for you to request more then 50/50. They are there to see him. Exceptions could be made for an established relationship with a grandparent or similar.

You also can't be expected to give him all the easy days (weekends) or work around an awkward and changeable schedule, this isn't in the internet of the children or fair to you and you should challenge that suggestion. If he wants 50/50 then it should be week on week off or a fair split week system where you share both weekends and weekdays relatively evenly. This should include school pickups and homework and all the other shit work.

I do not want 50/50 split
Emotionally I would find it difficult without my children but if he says he can do 50/50 can I really argue.
He has already travelled for 20 random days this year.

Also if income discrepancy who decides if child maintenance should still be paid? CMS?
As website says no maintenance if 50/50

If he wants 50:50 and can demonstrate he can do this it’s very likely it would be awarded. Your emotions won’t be a factor.

its likely you’d get a higher share of assets but he’s not a high earner and housing needs are the same. You’ll expected to maximise your income too What split are you asking ?

a solicitor doesn’t influence the judge. They will, if it gets that far, present a case why they’d argue a need for more. His lawyer would do the same in presenting a case why you don’t and why 50:50 is fair. Then it’s the mercy of the judge

i Don’t think the income discrepancy is high enough in this case where there would be 50:50 shared care… call cms and ask.

I mean I am paying a solicitor to discuss what a fair settlement would be? They have experience of what a judge may decide "if it went to court"
We will avoid court if possible.

Your solicitor will try to get you as much as they can ( even in some cases when that’s not realistic)
his will be trying to maximise outcome further client ( your ex) ( in some cases when they know they’ll have to go higher )

so, what has yours said and what are you expecting ? If you want to avoid court you’ll both need to compromise and negotiate

It depends what ops full time income would be. If she is forced to stay part time because ex is away so much then that's a big difference.

Does ex control his time away? If not and just needs to go then I can't see how 50/50 is possible. You can't be expected to adjust around a changing schedule, no reasonable judge would allow that just to maintain a fathers 50/50. If he plans to change jobs or stop working away then fair enough.

He doesn't fully control it but when I asked him to put changes into place starting from now he said no and he doesn't have to prove anything to me. He says he will tell work days he can't travel.

He must be on significantly more than 60k to take home 4k per month.

You need accurate figures to get any meaningful guidance.

But broadly there is a decent amount of equity to split but not enough to fight tooth and nail over.

I'd bet my house that he won't be doing 50/50 OP. He's just saying that now to sway the finances.

Tell him it's in the children's best interests to start the new arrangement immediately, and he needs to sort it asap. He won't. Let your lawyer/court know the actual childcare split, not what he proposes.

If they are Co parenting then the financial split won’t be significantly different if they share parenting 50:50 or 60:40. They both need to provide homes for their children. It might change the income differences but that would probably equalise their income.

I don’t disagree that it sometimes benefits men to pay child support as it is more convenient and cheaper than child care. But I don’t think this is a good long term thing for the woman.

Just a heads up, adding a self employed income to UC can make things harder, the money you need to make is likely to me much higher each month (I have 2 children under 13 and need to make just under £1,500 pcm to meet my commitments, it would be about £900 if I was employed)

You are separated now. So if he wants the children 50/50 this starts now.
Don't ask him, tell him.
My suspicion is as soon as everything has been divided up, based on a fictional 50/50, it will never happen and you will have drawn the short straw financially.
Keep a diary of all the days he lets the children down between now and settlement to show it isn't true 50/50.
On his days he makes packed lunches, gets the children up. Takes them to and from school, cooks their dinner, does their washing, bath and bedtime. If any medical appointments arise he does them too. Ideally you make yourself scarce so he has no option but to do it all. Make sure school is aware of routine so he gets calls on his days.
He doesn't get to dictate when it starts. He either wants it or not.

I would be employed and self employed. Have you found UC helpful?

Difficult when in the same house 😒 and I'm used to doing it all.
He does take 1 child to school 3xweek when not travelling but he literally just takes them ten mins after I leave ( everything prepped).
He picks up 2x per week but straight back to work in his office at home.
We have not separated finances yet either which is not ideal but less financial stress for me at the moment anyway.