Thinking of Suggesting a Trial Seperation

Hi, I have been married now for 20 years, no children, but we are finding the marriage very hard, so I am considering suggesting a trial separation.

My query is regarding finances: -

We are currently renting privately, I am employed full time as an IT Manager, salary 50k. I pay all bills inc food and my wife’s car running cost. This does not leave me much left.

My wife works on a zero-hour contract so her money changes a lot each month, to make life more complex, she works for the same company as myself.

Should I decide to move out for a period, do I have to pay everything for my current rented property plus say a room I rent as this will be hard financially for me.

My wife does have some savings as she does the saving from her wages.

Our current property is in contract until Sept 2018

My immediate thought is that if you separate and this leads to a divorce your problems will only just begin.
If you are tight on cash now you will be certainly tighter on funds running 2 properties between you .

I am not suggesting that this should be your sole reason for any decisions you make and you both may be happier away from each other.

You have to consider that you will have to ensure your x is adequately housed which will cost and your x will have to maximise her income.

One down side as far as you are concerned would be losing part of your pension fund which most people forget about until you get into the process and given the fact that you earn a reasonable amount and you are 20 years into marriage then this would count against you in asset division.

From the experiences of others either on here or outside divorce does not come cheap and there are few winners financially.

Maybe you should look at other solutions like relate but the decisions are yours alone. May I suggest you look through this site to see others experiences.