Hi All

Hi Browney,
keep your relationship on the boiler till after settlement because it will make a difference.
I am sure some will be able to give you more details.No reason you cannot go out but do not forget it is early days too ,anything can happen.
take care

dont move him in yet it does affect your settlement believe his wages can be taken into consideration but dont take my word on it seek leagal advice on here with wikis free legal surgery .
difece lawyer holds one between 6 /8 pm most evenings aand its free just go into chat and ask a moderator to guid you to the right place

gaza

Thanks, I have not moved in with said chap, not ready for that yet. Anyway i had a settlement offer yesterday from the ex of 27.4%, my solicitor has replied with a 60% offer but told me to take about 55% rather than go to court. I chatted to him about this, is there any guide to how much it would cost to take it to court other than the court fee, he said it would take 6-9 months, i really dont want to do this and the Ex will have guessed this, confused as the low offer, he either wants court or just to grind me down. Pleased the ex did not accept my invite of xmas dinner, who knows what he would have got!.... xx

Browney,

The court costs are relatively small; what is expensive is arguing about money - especially when solicitors are involved . When they are charging £200 or so an hour - and some seem to create aggravation to up their fees - it can get ruinously expensive both financially and emotionally. It doesn't help when one or both of the paried involved are being stubborn and unrealistic.

In my case - legally represented and dragged to a final hearing - my costs were nearly £30k and my ex has £20k in legal aid to pay back - so a total of £50k which is not unusual I am afraid.

Your solicitor sounds sensible to suggest you factor in potential costs when looking at a settlement. It is far better to keep the money for yourself rather than funding someone else's luxury holidays.

My advice would be to try to keep things as simple as possible and don't get drawn into mudslinging or arguing about the small stuff - even if your stbx tries to go down that route ... and make sensible open offers ASAP ....

Hadenoughnow

Thanks for your advice, its nice to know a ish cost as the solicitor just said that he had done most of the work that would be required already but the costs would be high. Im not sure what ex is doing, ive tried talking to him about things and i just get the answer that hes paying his solic to sort this out...he knows my financial situation so thats what hes playing on, hes winning at the mo cos im low, perhaps the lowest ive been since telling him i wanted out, it will be a year since i said that i wanted to split 27th Dec, this time last year was terrible, I just hoped that id be more 'straight' by now. Anyway we counter proposed at 60% ill report back xx