Husband on permanent sick leave, who would be entitled to more

[Hadenough91625]

Morning. I've got another thread running on the relationship board if you want to take a look for further background but wanted to ask here incase anyone had similar experience/advice.
I want to separate from my husband but I am scared to start the process incase I'm left with nothing.
We currently have a large home which my parents contributed to financially. It's owned outright. If we split it 50/50 we could both buy a small 3 bed semi each which would be perfect.
If he ended up getting more i would never be able to buy anywhere else and I would be stuck
I was a sahm and raised the kids whilst he climbed the career ladder and became a high earner. He payed all the bills during that time.

3 years ago he had a mental episode and had to stop working and since then I have gone back to work working term time only in a school and he now stays at home.
He does the house work and contributes half of the bills from his sick pay and I pay the other half. I do the school runs and the shopping. He doesn't go out due to his mental state.
Our kids are now teenagers so I would hope they would get a say in who they would live with. My son would stay with me and not want to see dad at all. My daughter would choose 50/50 between us .

I am worried that as I work i will now be less entitled as can support myself going forward . I am registered disabled and claim high rate pip.
whereas he could argue that due to his health condition he can't work so less able to support himself

Go speak to a solicitor to find out your rights as each relationship is slightly different.

However I think that you should be able to walk away roughly equal as you are both long term sick/disabled. I think where is might not be equal would be the pensions especially if he had a very well paid job previously.

Collect as much financial information as you can eg P60s, savings/investments, his sick pay amount/how long does he had it for, etc and get a one off consultation. Mine cost £200 and it was invaluable. Knowledge is power. Good luck.

I have an almost zero pension at the moment, he has 50k in his pension

Again, go to a solicitor to check your rights in your particular circumstances but looking at what you've put i would say you are roughly equal, probably he is better off than you tbh.

Concerning your future ability to support yourself - you already have full PIP so your condition could get worse in future preventing you from working at all (I assume) so courts wouldn't say you need to work more hours etc and so he needs more house equity. Can't he claim it for himself if he's that incapacitated?

Go for it OP. Book that solicitors appointment and you'll see freedom and peace is not that far away

The pension is split too, so you'd be entitled to half of that too. Would he even be able to manage a 3 bedroom house by himself?

I’m surprised how little he has in his pension pot if he has “climbed” the career ladder?

It should be possible to base it on needs, your need is to house the DC, his less so as they don’t want to reside with him and as they are teens that should be taken into account.

You need to get recommendations for solicitors that have achieved good results for someone in your situation.

I agree with redemptionwoes, that pension valuation sounds unbelievably low for a high earner. I wasn't a high earner, haven't worked for years and even my pension valuation is £150,000. My husband is a high earner and his is over a million.

Make sure you get a proper valuation of that pension, or your solicitor does, it could be very important for your future.