Advice on situation needed please

Good Morning,

My wife of 6 and half years has told me she wants a divorce. Assets are contributed heavily from my side however i do understand this to be irrelevant in the eyes of a judge as
We have a 5 year old boy together whos needs come first. I feel like I am worried I’m about to lose everything I have built up.

situation:

HUSBAND (me) 36 Yrs old
1x 1 bedroom apartment solely in my name from BEFORE marriage with all payments coming from my sole account. (100k equity)
1x family 3 bedroom detatched home owned with wife (300k equity)
75k in savings
10k in investments
25k pension

50% of owner of business (my share worth around 100k)

Income: £45000 a year wages and then I take dividends throughout the year to top upto 100k


WIFE 34yrs old

Share of material home as above (300k equity)
£25000 savings
£25000 pension

Income: 60k per year PAYE

What sort of hit should i be expecting? Will i be liable for spousal maintenance?

Many thanks

On these figures there is no obvious reason why you should end up paying spousal maintenance. Assuming the child will live primarily with his mother you will of course need to pay child maintenance.

As to how the capital should be divided that is going to depend primarily upon the housing needs of your wife and child and how that will be funded. In that respect 'equity' is all very well but in these circumstances what is likely to matter much more is the size of any mortgage, how much it costs to service and the extent to which your wife could reasonably be expected to fund it alone from her own income (including any child maintenance). If, say, the mortgage on the former matrimonial home is £100K then that is one thing but if it is, say, £1 million, that is a very different kettle of fish.

Thank you for the prompt response David,

The maritial home has an outstanding mortgage of £150k and is worth £450k hence the 300k equity.

Cost of servicing said mortgage is £880month.

The child would primarily live with his mother and I would pay child maintenance.

Well, it looks as though with an income of £60K, and child maintenance your wife could manage a mortgage of that sort of size. You are fortunate in that there are two properties and significant savings. The difficult cases tend to involve those where all capital is tied up in the matrimonial home. In this case it should be possible to divide capital reasonably equitably. Mediation may help you both come to an ouctome that you can each live with assuming you cannot reach agreement between yourselves.

David,

Given the above situation and resources do you think I would stand a chance of a clean break in the below scenario if my wife agrees.

I keep my apartment as it was mine way before the marriage and in my sole name and bank account.

We split the equity of everything else 50/50?

many thanks

There is a five year old child here. Therefore I would be surprised if a court thought you should be able to ring fence 'your' apartment and bank account so that only the rest is divided. It is more likely that they will be regarded as assets which you have and which affect your needs. The fact that you have these assets may then well affect how the other assets are divided such that they are not divided equally. I think in view of your other assets, the fact that there is a child and that your income is significantly more than hers the equity in the former matrimonial home is not likely to be divided equally. There is no reason why there should not be a clean break but I doubt it will be upon the division of assets you are proposing.

Sorry David, I can see how my post reads wrong.

I meant would it be possible for only my apartment be ringfenced, absolutely everything else to be split 50/50 or maybe 60/40 in her favour.?

>>I meant would it be possible for only my apartment be ringfenced,

No. It is an asset which you have and, amongst other things, it potentially affects your housing needs and/or income. That it shouldn't be sold and the proceeds split with your ex is one thing (which is very unlikely to happen in these circumstances) but that you should simply retain it and that its existence should be ignored is quite another.