seperation

[anon1968]

Hi

Can anybody help with some advice,

bsically my husband is leaving, says he will pay half the mortgage till completion or whether i decide to sell sooner, pay me 200 pm child maintenance, sign the car over to me, which i need for work, he isnt taking any furniture or anything like that from the house, but says because he is doing all this i will have to agree in a seperation agreement that i wont have any pension rights, i don't think i can do anything because if i dont agree he can argue re car/outstanding visa etc,and id really don't have any leighway, seeing a solicitor soon but wondered if anybody knows what he legally has to do, i think he is being fair with half mortgage etc but not sure what he legally has to do

help?

Don't agree to anything. Wait till you see the solicitor. Gather together lots of relevant information to take to solicitor: what everything is worth, what debts you have, income etc

Some basics: startpoint for divorce is an assumption of 50:50 split of all assets. This includes savings, pensions (yours and his), cars, equity etc etc WHOEVER's name it is in. However, if this split makes it impossible to house the children appropriately (not enough equity, relative incomes etc) then things start changing. It can get VERY complicated.

Child maintenance is roughly 15% of his take home salary for one child, 20% for two - you can check this on the CSA website.

You don't HAVE to do anything he says - but the two of you do have to come to an agreement. Don't make any committments yet.

Actually to be strictly correct sharing assets 50:50 in England & Wales only applies when there are enough assets to meet the needs of both parties and their was no exceptional contribution by one party.

In most cases there aren't enough assets to meet the needs of both parties and a checklist of factors in s25 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 is referred to. Once a settlement has been calculated it is then measured against 'yardstick' of equality to check that both parties are left on a similar financial footing but that isn't necessarily a mathematically equal split.

For example, if a parent has the majority of the care of the children they will need a bigger house to accommodate them and if that parent has no/low income they will not be able to raise as much mortgage as the parent without the majority of care who has a higher income. The parent with the children will then require a larger slice of capital to put them on a similar footing as the higher income parent. You really need a solicitor to look at your particular circumstances and advise where stand and what your options are.

If a separation agreement is fair (ie within the s25 criteria), there is full disclosure of assets and both parties take legal advice a separation agreement may carry some weight, but they are always subject to review and a final order will still be required at some point not too far into the future. This means you could pay a solicitor to do the same work twice. However, that might be money well spent if it means you can agree something fairly quickly and tackle the final order a year or so down the line when emotions are not running so high.

The net value of the matrimonial property to be shared is all the solely and jointly held assets minus any liabilities but a court cannot make an order to transfer a debt in one party's name to the other party. In this case the debt(s) might be offset against assets if needs can still be met.