Separation agreement - is it worth it?

[Lozislovely]

Splitting up after 20 years though both remaining in the house until its sold.

I need £20k to walk away with and have told H this. He needs same so we can't reduce house price any more than we have already.

I recently stopped giving H £130 each month towards the mortgage as I felt it was unfair that I was and am paying over £1,000 per month on all bills, food, pocket money, clothes etc.

H isn't too happy about this and I am concerned that when we do finally sell he'll try and keep back money that ordinarily I would have given him each month so possibly a couple of grand.

I don't trust him as far as I can throw him so want to be prepared.

Thanks in advance

The property shouldn't be sold or money change hands unless you know where you stand. If you happen to live in Scotland you would need either a separation agreement or an imposed order of the court to settle the finances.

In England & Wales a separation agreement has considerable weight as long as there is full disclosure, both parties take legal advise and the agreement is "fair" ie complies with the law. A separation agreement may be useful to share the assets and then divorce later when emotions aren't running so high to avoid the divorce inflaming the situation. If there are problems later the courts can make an enforceable order in the same terms of the separation agreement.

The disadvantages of a separation agreement is it can be subject to review and at some point a court order will be required. That means you have to pay a solicitor to prepare the agreement and then a "consent" order later. However that might still be less expensive than inflaming the situation making negotiation and agreement difficult so that you end up in court.

Thank you STIDW, I think I will have to go down this route as I just can't trust what strings he might try to pull when it comes to splitting assets. His argument has always been the he pays the mortgage - forgetting that I pay for absolutely everything else.