Separation agreement

My husband and I were married in 2009 but I moved from Canada to be with him and left my thriving business and since then my business is in debt. My husband separated from me in 2010 and we tried to work on our marriage while separated and then we moved back in 2011 for another year and then we have separated again in September 2012. Since then we have tried therapy to fix the marriage but now my husband wants a divorce. he offered me 50,000K now and 50,000 K in a year if I don''t disparage him or his family. This is a strange request. I cannot go back to Canada as my income would be nothing since the business is in distress and the only place that I could continue to earn an income would be NYC as the laws in England are changing around what I can and cannot do in the UK. I will have to retrain for 2 years in NYC to build back my career and invest in education, living expenses, moving costs ect.. and leaving the Uk expenses. My husband has now withdrawn his initial offer as I told him I would need to discuss the breakdown costs with my lawyer. He earns about 320,000K per year plus bonuses as he has a stable job at a private equity firm.

My business here depends on how much business I get in and soon i won''t be able to earn what I was earning before due to the laws changing, so I will have to move out of England as I cannot afford to live in London without earning a certain amount. Any thoughts on how I need to tackle this? Also if I had property before entering the marriage in Canada, does this count as a marital asset?

I see you have had no reply for two days, and I think I can understand why to some extent.
I suppose the first thing I should say is that, as far as an English Court is concerned, a Court will look at the assets and resources of the parties as at the date when the Court makes its decision.
Yes, it is possible for the Court to take into consideration the fact that you gave up a job in Canada to be with him but I''m honestly not all that sure just how much weight it would carry. What I have in mind is the well know case of McFarlane where the wife, who was at the time a high earning city solicitor, made a joint decision with her husband, also a high earning accountant, to look after the children. In that case the wife secured 50% of the assets and a very high maintenance order for life.
In your case there are no children involved and the marriage is relatively short, and I can''t comment on the type of business you have or the work you do or could do, and I don''t know whether a return to Canada would or could be an option for you. In general terms it will be expected that you will take reasonable steps to support yourself and it is certainly possible - maybe even likely - that he could or would be ordered to pay you maintenance for a limited period to enable you to retrain or take other steps to improve your income. I''m not sure if you have a '' right '' to live in London, but I know there are those whose skills are such that they need to live there.
The fact is, though, you have to live somewhere and a Court would be concerned with the issue as to where you both are going to live.
Now I know all this is very vague. For the records, the fact that you had property before the marriage is relevant but after a short marriage the chances are that you would be allowed to keep it, especially if you are the economically weaker party.
I just hope this helps.
LMM