Divorce in Retirement

Hi I am new to this site and am relieved to find this forum. I feel my circumstances are a bit different - I am 64 and my husband 61. We have been married 10 years and I am about to start divorce proceedings on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour (he is alcohol dependent). Initially he agreed to the divorce and to put the house on the market. However he’s changed his mind and “will only leave the house in a box”! He works full time and receives a generous company pension and I work part time and have the state pension and a modest company pension. There should be sufficient equity in the property for each of us to buy again. My main concerns are not having sufficient income once I have to retire as I can’t rely on financial support from him following divorce. Am I better going for Clean Break with, say 60/40% split in the equity from the property? Would a court support this

Hi chris be, sorry don't have an answer, but am interested in replies, so just to give your post a bump.

chrisbe

Welcome to wiki.

Did you live together at all before you married?

Presumably as you married later in life you each brought assets to the marriage? If there is more than enough to buy you each a one bedroom property from the equity of the FMH then this is a case where contributions may be relevant.

As far as future income goes, there are different ways to deal with this. A lot is going to depend on the difference between your incomes. It is possible for you to be paid part of his pension without sharing it - this is called earmarking - but like SM the disadvantage is that the money stops when he dies. There is more information about pensions in teh wiki library.

Look at www.wikivorce.com/divorce/Divorce-Financ...cial-settlement.html

This sets out what is considered when assets are divided on divorce.

You can use the on site Divorce Calculator for guidance or if you want wikipeeps to give you a view, you need to provide the following information:

Ages

Length of marriage + pre marriage cohab

Incomes (inc Tax credits etc if applicable)

FMH Value and outstanding mortgage + size of FMH

Value of other assets in sole of joint names - savings, shares, endowments

Pensions - CETVS (it would also be helpful to have an idea of the benefits from the pension - ie projected lump sum and annual pension) Is your pension in payment?

Liabilities in sole or joint names - loans, debts etc

If you could tell us if either one of you contributed a particularly significant amount to the marriage - ie through sale of a previous property - that would be helpful.

Hadenoughnow

Hi thank you for your reply. Basically the house we jointly own has a value of approx £450,000. He works full time and with pension payment has a net income of £1,890 pm and I work part time, receive state pension and private pension and net £1070 pm. Been together 12 years, married 10. No mortgage, debts or loans.

hi chrisbe,

I think hadenoughnow was saying that the assets you each brought to the marriage may also be relevant. Can you comment on how much each of contributed to the purchase of the house, assuming that previous assets were sold to buy it?

Him circa £250,000; me £220,000 = purchase of house, refurbishment/improvements etc.