form E fun....

[gingernorks]

After I pay my basic household bills and food, I have around £20 a month left. This obviously leaves me very little for "luxuries" like shoes, new clothes and days out for my children.
Which leads me onto my question... when I have to fill in my incomming and outgoings on the Form E for my divorce do I just say exactly what I spend, or can I include the stuff I want to be able to afford (a haircut would be nice!)?
I hope that makes sense!

You should think of it as a wishlist, ie everything that it would be reasonable to pay for including haircuts, holidays, clothes etc.

depending on the usual circs of my client, I usually put in what they'd normally pay out for, so a wealthy client's list will often include manicures, other beauty treatments, lots of activities for the children if that's usual.

For a less well off client I'll tone it down but will still include a haircut every 2 months, maybe £50 a month for clothes & shoes for herself and an additional sum on the next page for the childrens' clothes and shoes etc.

Don't get too hung up on the outgoings list: you need to give a rough idea of what you can reasonably expect to have to pay for but the reality for most people is that their income "needs" will outstrip their income, ie their salary, tax credits, child ben, child mtce etc. It's always good to get some spousal maintenance on top but not always possible if the husband doesn't have it.

thanks for that Mumblechum. It just seems odd that I need to list stuff that I don't actually buy, even tho I need/want them.

The idea is that you say you need, I dunno, £30,000 net per annum for you and the children. Your income inc. any tax credits, child mtce etc is £25,000 net and your soon to be ex husband has, on paper at least, a spare £5,000 (tho' his solicitors will be trying to minimise any apparent excess by saying he needs it to fund his pension or whatever).

You then say that you'll take that £5k as spousal maintenance thank you very much, even if only for a few years, tapering down to give you a chance to get back to work full time as the kids get older (I'm obv. making some presumptions here!)

I get £5,000 per annum at the min, and he gets £50,000 so I think he can stump up a bit more! Thanks again MC!

Just the thread I am looking for!

I started to fill out my Form E today and became very intimidated by it, particularly the section Financial Requirements, do I need to list such things as bills, food etc or just house car etc.

Any help greatly appreciated

hi inthemistsoftime, we can be Form E buddies! I think we have to fill every single thing we spend per month, and even some we don't! (wink)

In the Mists, if you ask your solicitor she may have a pro forma list of outgoings. I'm at home at the mo so can't cut & paste it, but you should think about the following:
House:
mtge/rent
contents & house insurance
council tax
gas, elec, phone, tv licence, oil, logs, coal
maintenance& repairs, cleaner, gardener if HNW, window cleaning

Groceries inc. cleaning stuff
lunches at work, coffees, odd meal out, school meals, odd meal out for children (sep. section for children)

Personal:
clothes, shoes
toiletries, makeup, beauty treatments, hair
Holidays, birthday & Xmas expenses

Work related, eg subscriptions to journals if not paid for by company, if you're in a formal job, the odd smart suit

Transport:
car payments , car tax, MOT, service repairs, petrol, public transport, parking fees

Odds & Sods:
Newspapers, magazines for self & children,

Stuff not to forget about kids:
Uniforms, play clothes, trainers, school shoes, brownies/cub uniforms, subs for football, ballet, other after school clubs, pe kit, trips away, pocket money.

oh thanks mumblechum, you are a real star

ok gingernorks lets get this thing done and dusted