personal injury compensation claim

Hi, i am new to this forum. I seperated from my husband in april 2008 and went to live at my brothers, at the end of May 2008 I was involved in a serious motorcycle accident and to cut a long story short I will be receiving a substantial sum in personal injury compensation. My ex gave me no personal care etc with regard to this accident as I continued to live with my brother and he helped me with everything. My STBX is now telling me that his solicitor tells him he is entitled to claim half of my compensation. Does anyone have any experience of this or have any advice?

Yes. There was an report in the Daily Mail where something like that happened. Sorry, can't remember it.

It doesn't necessarily follow that the split will be 50/50 - the case I referred to was based on need. Your need for the money may be much greater than his.

But I think every case depends on its own facts. What I'm pretty sure about is that the award can be taken into consideration.

LMM

Firstly, don't believe what he says his solicitor has told him. It is very unlikely that his solicitor has really told him anything of the sort. People often say "my solicitor told me XXX" just to make you scared and because they want it to sound official.

Finances in divorce depend on many factors and you cannot simply look at one part in isolation. Every case is different and depends very much on the figures involved. If you can give us the following information then we can assist:

1) Your respective ages
2) Length of your marriage and any premarital cohabitation
3) Number and ages of any children either joint or from previous/later relationships
4) If the house is not sold yet then value and outstanding mortgage amount
5) Where each of you are living, how much it is costing you either rent or mortgage
6) Your respective invomes including any benefits
7) Pension amounts and time it was built up over
8) Any other assets, savings, shares, cars, valuables etc
9) Any debts or liabilities eg. credit cars, loans etc.
10) Any other relevant factors such as new partners, cohabitation
11) Has the accident affected your earning capacity either now or in the past? What exactly is the compensation for? How much is it?

These awards usually are made in two parts the first being damages and then future care needs, as others have said the damages element can form part of the pot depending what other assets exist, the future care needs element is much more difficult to include because it is needed to pay for care needs potentially for life.

Has a part 36 offer actually been accepted? if not your talking about money that does not actually exist, no one can guess what you will eventually get or how long it will take to come, these cases can take years and years to settle.

This is where it all starts to get complicated so I will try to be as brief as possible.
He is now 56 and I am 49. We were married for 26 years. We have one son who is 24 and lives in a property in cornwall which was left jointly to me and my ex by his parents. Our son pays him rent from which I dont receive a penny!! He now lives with his new partner in what was a joint tenancy council property. His new partner has m.s and he receives carers allowance for her. I am in private rented accomodation. I only work part time as my injuries prevent me from working fulltime unless I find my 'ideal' job. There are no pensions involved. There are a large number of debts to be paid off within the marriage. My proposals were to sell the property in cornwall and I would pay off the debt from my half (our son is also entitled to ten grand from the sale of the house)and forget the rent he has received. I just want a line drawn under it. He wants me to sign the house over to him and he will take on fifty grand of the debt and leave my compensation alone. The house is only worth around 130 grand now. There is more to this story but this is the basics. Also my compensation should be paid out in the next few months as it is just being finalised and yes a large part will be to compensate me for being unable to work so many hours etc and for my needs as I get older

The award is relevant and must be disclosed and included in the 'pot.'. It used to be that compensation for pain, suffering, loss of amenity and any care element is then allotted back to you and any compensation for loss of income is considered as part of the overall settlement. However Mike is correct there was a recent judgement that might change that.

sueavalon wrote:

I only work part time as my injuries prevent me from working fulltime

Ah, I think this will be very relevant. Finances in divorce are based on needs. Your need for the compensation money is greater than his because your earning capacity is lower due to the accident.

My proposals were to sell the property in cornwall and I would pay off the debt from my half

Surely if the debts are matiral debts then they would be paid off from the house equity before it was split between you?

(our son is also entitled to ten grand from the sale of the house)

How come?

There is more to this story but this is the basics.

Yes, it's quite impossible to give you an idea of what is fair or not without answers to all of my questions above.

Normally what would happen is to sell the house, pay off the debts, then the money that is left over is split between you in accordance with your needs. If your ex is living with someone else then his housing need is satisfied which may mean you get more than 50%.