Financial settlement not started - savings vs lump sum mortgage overpayment?

[Nearlyalldone]

Hi - cross-posting from the Divorce forum as I didn’t receive advice there.

Been separated from husband for nearly 3yrs. I’m still living at the marital home (jointly owned) with the kids and he’s been renting since he moved out nearly 3yrs ago.

We’ve got a decree nisi, but haven’t yet started the divorce financial settlement process. He’s previously made noises about sorting out our financial settlement and completing the divorce, but I’ve heard nothing from him about it for nearly a year. I’m leaving it to him to begin the process. He was abusive (physically and emotionally) during our marriage and continues to be emotionally abusive since our separation. I don’t want to trigger him by discussing finances.

The house is on a tracker mortgage and the monthly payments are starting to become unbearable with the never-ending interest rate rises. I can’t fix the mortgage without my ex’s permission and I don’t want to trigger him by discussing finances with him as explained above.

I’ve got pretty healthy amount in savings and am thinking of making a lump sum payment into the mortgage to bring down the monthly costs. The mortgage is totally flexible and there are no overpayment limits or charges.

Am I right in thinking that in terms of a future financial settlement, there’s no real difference between my money being in a savings account vs being used to pay off a chunk of the mortgage? My thoughts are that my savings would have gone into the marital financial ‘pot’ to be divided in a financial settlement and so it doesn’t matter if the money is in my savings account or knocked off the mortgage.

Is that right, or will I financially disadvantage myself and financially advantage my ex by using my savings to make a lump sum payment towards the mortgage?

i should say that my ex pays me a similar amount to what would be ordered by the CMS for the kids each month. He doesn’t pay any extra towards the mortgage, so his financial contribution to me (for the kids) would not be affected by the mortgage cost reduction.

Didn’t see this posted before.
in theory you’re right. Marital assets are marital joint assets so the money is part of the overall financial settlement
but, it could be more nuanced than that, either way- it’s down to how much access you both need to cash vs property, what makes financial sense overall in terms of interest payments vs income from savings…
I think people didn’t post as this is complex and needs probably a financial expert to advise you. There are your stexh finances to consider too.

Thanks @Appleofmyeye2023 - I might just go ahead and bite the bullet and make the lump sum payment. At the end of the day, I need my monthly mortgage bill to come down and the mortgage interest is much higher than my savings interests so it makes financial sense that way too.

My ex has much more savings and has a much higher salary than me. I eventually intend to buy him out of the house once the financial settlement is agreed in the future - will need to increase the mortgage to pay his share and will need to extend the length of the mortgage, but it’ll be just about do-able.