Any help appreciated

Hello all,

I am about to apply for a divorce, and was wondering if I should bother with a solicitor, or even if I need one. My story:

I am a US citizen who has lived and worked in UK since 1991. In 1993 I met and married my wife. We have one child together (currently 13 yrs old) and our child lives with my wife. We have been separated since 2001 (not "legally" but have lived in separate homes) and both me and my wife have purchased property singly.

Since our marriage was essentially over, we consented to seeing/dating other people. Her relationships didn't work, but I have been in a relationship for 1.5years, and me and my new partner are expecting a baby together this August.

I have always over-paid child maintenance to me wife, and recently decided to use the CSA to calculate what I actually should pay her, and have changed her payments. She is not happy with this fact, and has said she will contest the divorce.

Can I apply for:

5. Five years separation when only one of the parties consents?

And if I go this route, will it affect what I have to pay her in maintenance? Neither of us wants any of the others property, or in fact, is really entitled to it.

Any and all help appreciated!

Hello

Yes you can use five years seperation even if your wife does not agree, any attempt to defend the petition will be futile.

Chids maintenance as i am sure you know is 15% of your net income, after that it can be adjusted depending how many nights your child stays with you.

The divorce and maintenance are seperate so the CM is not affected.

Thanks for the quick reply Dukey! I appreciate your advice....

The one portion of this divorce I am somewhat worried about is the financial aspect. I currently do not own any property, and have used almost all my savings to become debt-free. She has claimed she will go after my pension (which is tied to the US military, and she would only be entitled to if we had been married longer) and has also threatened to deny me from visitation, or at least she will make it extremely difficult!

That is why I am unsure if I need a lawyer or not....

EDIT: Even though we were separated, I put her through Nursing school and paid all her bills at the time. I have also found out her parents gave her 40k pounds to put down on her house. While I am not after any of this money, is there any way these issues could help me if she tries to bleed me financialy?

Hello

The formal ending of the marriage by divorce is seperate to financial issues, so you can divorce and sort finaces seperatly though it is wise to agree finances before applying for the absolute.

If you both cant agree finances and court is the only route many factors are used to decide the asset division as you have no assets bar the pension this could in theory mean you are entitled to some of your wifes assets, could you both agree to mediation so you both have an idea of what a fair settlement could be.

Be warned useing court to sort out finances can be very expensive, fully contested to final hearing can cost 30k each!

Child contact again is a seperate issue if you cannot agree Cafcass are involved it takes a long time and again can be very expensive.

The moral of the story is do your very best to agree all matters without court, think about what court may cost against what you cannot agree, you could easily end up spending more on sol`s costs than you are argueing over.

Thanks for the great advice dukey! I will definitely try my best to reach a compromise with my wife. Cheers!