maintenance

[inshockagainandagain]

soon to start divorce proceedings. How much maiantenance, other than min of 15% for ds am i likely to get.
H earns around £60k, company car and generous pension.
i'm sahm, small business working from home (max £200/month)
House will be sold to release approx £250k equity, of which the majority around £220k will be needed for me to buy a property for me and ds.
a couple of health issues mean i'l very restricted in the work i could do, hence working from home

If you get the majority of the equity there may be no spousal maintenance ordered as your husband will need to finance a roof over his head too for when child comes to stay. Have you asked your husband about financial matters?

It's quite unusual to receive spousal maintenance these days. The reasoning is that if you receive most of the equity, he has to get a higher mortgage to rehouse himself (and the children for contact), therefore he has less available to pay spousal maintenance.

I generally advise women to go for as much of the equity as possible and not worry too much about spousal mtce, as what you get with one hand you lose with the other. If he loses his job and you're reliant on the spousal maintenance you are going to struggle, but if you get q a lot of the equity, you shouldn't need much or any sp.mtce.

tbh, health issues aside, you will need to show that you are making every effort to find a job.

You may also get a pension sharing order depending on the length of the marriage and the equity split.

I'm vert suprised about spousal maintenance not being awarded. Both solicitors i've talked to have said i would receive it, plus large share of equity.
Time will tell i guess

Yes, I've no doubt you'll get a large share of the equity, but if your dh has to get a massive mortgage as a result, there's less to give you in spousal maintenance.

Unless you gave up a high flying career to be a SAHM to suit your husbands work, its very unlikely you will get spousal maintainance as you are expected to support yourself.

You may get more than 50% of the equity but i doubt it will be as high as you say unless your ex is very generous and gives it all to you. The courts will want to see that both parties have a home for the child. Why should he have a mortgage yet you dont?

Don't think it works like that happyMummy - unless the solicitors i've spoken to recently are all wrong

inshock I am about to embark on a divorce after 22 years of marriage. Although I have always worked to some extent (full time for the past 5 years) - my doing more than my fair share at home has allowed H to climb the career ladder to the point where he now earns 90k to my 25k. Why should I not be compensated for this? I will not be able to afford a big mortgage, he intends to move in with a high earning girlfriend. I'm not one to say bleed the bastards dry - but 'you are expected to support yourself'. Really? So the husband can just piss off with all the cash?

inshock have a look at Marilyn Stowe's blog. (On ipad so can't link). She is a shit hot family lawyer and gives lots of good advice.

inshock - 70/30 % of equity & maybe some spousal maintenance but you & one child won't need a very big house on those earnings you hardly lived the high life that you need to keep up. Trouble with maintenance is that ex's tend to resent paying it to their ex wives and that can change of course if they marry again and/or have more children!! Best thing to ask your solicitor is what they would be telling him - that's what I did & it gave me some perspective. You may well end up with both you may end up disappointed. Oh & max spousal + child maintenance would be 30%,

OP, it also depends where you live/house prices. In the South East and London £60k pa isn't going to go far between two households, in the North East it would be a very good salary.

Also you're more likely to be awarded spousal maintenance by courts in the south east IME.

The courts will consider spousal maintenance given the imbalance in income and earning capacity, but the court is directed by statute to try and achieve a clean break if at all possible. One alternative is spouse maintenance for a limited time to enable you to adjust to life without it.

It all depends on how much of his income he needs to meet his basic needs after he's paid child maintenance, and how much you need to meet yours and the children's needs. It's a balancing exercise. Needs tend to trump all other considerations, but it's complicated, and you must instruct a specialist lawyer to advise you.

All this v interesting
When my now dh got divorced 10 years ago ex got all of equity in house and msintance for 3 kids amounts to half his net salary. And still does. She had good lawyer. On paper no spousal msintance. But large for kids. Still paying even tho 2 at Uni as they are still in full time ed. and lots on top too directly to kids!

Child maintenance ends when the children end their first degree. Spouse maintenance can be open ended, and can be capitalised later on. At least he has the security of knowing it will end soon for at least 2 of them.

Any order made after 6 April 2002 can shift, on the application of either parent, to the CSA.

in my local courts the DJ used to be quite keen on spousal maintenance (if affordable for H) for a limited time, say 2 to 3 years (depending on ages of DC etc) to give the wife time to stand on her own two feet.

I have had 3 solicitors tell me that I will get lifetime maintenance - one from the south east and 2 from the north east - married/cohabiting for 27 years. They all used the phrase "equity of income."

Well, good luck, hope you get it.

I've been practising for almost 25 years, the last 12 of which have been in the South East and have only dealt with maybe 10 cases where the wife has received lifetime maintenance, and all of those were big money cases (ie £2m plus equity, well over £100k husband's income.)

Term spousal maintenance not uncommon, though, often till the younger child is around 14, at which point it's expected that the wife will be working full time.

I also consulted two solicitors when my ExH walked out on me and my two small DCs, and they were both clear that the judge would expect both of us to leave the marriage able to 'start afresh,' and this indeed happened for my ExH.

I received custody of the mortgage, the children were awarded to me with no discussion as my ExH needed to 'get on with his life,' and he kept all his pension and assets. The DC receive minimum child support. I have never received a penny from my ExH nor was the judge minded to award it, despite my earning abilities being severely compromised.

Maybe my situation is quite unusual. Stbx's income is around 100k and I am unemployed with no prospect of anything other than for very poor pay despite re training in the past year and having a few interviews. I worked in his business full time (I am a minor share holder) until he decided to get me out in order to pursue an affair unhindered by me knowing his whereabouts. The OW is now installed in my old job, has been supplied with a company car, etc.

I think my age is a factor Line Runner - I am in my 50's.

I think you are right in that the length of marriage is taken into account by the judge - but why couldn't he also take into account the years ahead of me where I was going to be the sole carer for two young children? Ten years on, they are just teens, and I am still unable to work to any kind of full potential.

(Their father sees them one night a month. (His choice.))

I totally agree with you LineRunner. 25 years seems to be the magic number. My stbx had an affair years ago when my dc's were only 3 and 4. He was contrite and I loved him but I did consider what would happen if we divorced. I could see no way I could survive at that time and support my dc's.

Good luck to you, spring, I do wish you well.

I went through that hell of being left with two very young DCs. I can see why you didn't want to try to do that. I just wish judges could 'get it' that the women coping in these circumstances are giving their all, and a large part of their future, whereas men are asked for 15%.

Thanks LineRunner.

OldFatandTired - you should change your name by the way! - I think if the spouse sets up home with someone else it is actually an advantage to you as they are regarded as sharing living costs. I am sure the lawyers might confirm this.