splitting asstes - Are my buy-to-let properties and savings considerd Matrimonial Assets ?

Hey everyone!
i am new here, new to all this divorce thing.
I will really appriciate if anyone can help me.

I am probably in the begining of seperation process,
i still dont know what will hapen, but want to prepare for the worst.
we got married 6 years ago. we also have a 5 year old son.
almost all my money in uk, came from savings I had in a difernt country, before coming to UK,
from properties I owned, and sold before mariage.
In uk , after we got married, i took the money i saved from before the marriage and invested it in property.
all income and expenses from my properties i bought in uk , came from my sole bank account.
in Uk I had litle income from renting properties + small income as an employee.
At the moment i have properties, stocks, savings all
invested / bought during marriage, from money i saved before the marriage.
Are my investment propeties i bought during marrige , and my savings protected ?
because most the money they came from savings from selling properties before
the marriage.
Or are they to be split, because I bought the properties during marriage ?
Is the money excluded from matrmonial pot, is it “ pre-marital assets” ?

if all my money is not protected , and may be considerd matrmonial pot and split ,
is there any way i can hide it so she cant steal it ?
95% of the money is from before we even knew each other !
so she shouldnt have any of it.

sure, i understand the income / profits we made during the marriage , and joint house should be split,
but can she claim money and property , the came originaly from before the weding?
can she say its considerd "matrmonial pot " ?

>>Are my investment propeties i bought during marrige , and my savings protected ?<<

No.

>>if all my money is not protected , and may be considerd matrmonial pot and split ,
is there any way i can hide it so she cant steal it ?
95% of the money is from before we even knew each other !
so she shouldnt have any of it. <<

1. No solicitor should ever give you advice intended to thwart the jurisdiction of the court.

2. You have been married 6 years and have a 5 year old son. It is absolutely absurd to say that any financial claims by your wife are 'stealing' from you.

3. Regardless of how you may look upon it the courts regard marriage as a partnership and the more so in this case because you have a child together. That will come before protecting 'your' assets.

Hi David Terry,

Thank you for your response.

we also had a joint account - where we paid all our bills from. and our home we bought together.
this sure it matrimonial assets that should be split.

The reson why i think my savings and my buy to let properties may be considerd non matrmonial , and should not be split,
Is that all the money i had was hold seperatly in a sole account, not mixed with home / marriage expenses.
the savings originated from before the marriage.

my buy to let properties are owned under my name only, and the money to buy them, came from savings befor our marriage.

because these assets are under my sole name, from money before marriage, and were kept sepertly - all profirt and expenses,
( she also had her own private account ), thats why i want to keep these assests protected from spliting.

is it a clear case ? or can the court look at it either way ?

Thank you for the help

Courts do not ring fence assets in the way you suggest. They are assets which you have and they will therefore be taken into account in determining what you can afford to pay. They will not simply be ignored. There is a five year old child here. That one fact far outweighs the fact that assets are in your sole name or that you kept money separate. There is, of course, nothing to prevent you arguing before a court that these are not matrimonial assets and should not be taken into account. Whether that argument will be given any significant weight by a court will actually depend upon the figures.

Say, for instance, there were total assets of £2 million and 'your' premarital assets totalled another £200,000. In such a case it is almost certain that your respective need could each be met by half of £2 million - ie is £1 million each. On figures like these a court could well feel it had more latitude in treating the £200,000 separately.

However, where the figures are, say, total assets of £500,000 of which £400,000 was owned by you prior to the marriage it is inconceivable that a court would let you keep £400,000 and just divide the balance of £100,000. On such figures 'needs' will trump anything else and the whole amount would be taken into account because it was necessary to do so.

Your wife and child will not be expected to live in a cardboard box so you can retain 'your' assets. Marriage is a partnership. The existence of a child is cogent proof of that.

So if i understand correctly ,
cout gives more emphasis to what either side needs for living expense,
and dosent give as much attention to Matrimonial Assets vs Non-Matrimonial Assets ,
and what is excluded from the Matrimonial pot ? or is it treated individualy by each case ? ( or depending on each judge)?
In our case the figures are much smaller , even then the smaller example you gave.

I hope you dont get me worng, I am the victim here, my wife had a good job, has a good profession, her income
was much higher then me ( she was just spending the money, while i was saving it ).

She also left immediatly, leaving me alone to pay all the mortgage and bills !
She is avoiding making any payments, and not trying to reach an agreement.

what am i suppose to do ? not pay the bills ? get a court order to sell the house, or buy her part ?

Will the court will likely to look at all this in my favour ?
I am the responsible one financialy, she just stop paying bills , and not cooperating.

>>I am the victim here,

No, you are not the victim. You married by your choice. You say that your assets were built up in a different country before you married. Was it the marriage which enabled you to come to the UK? It is a marriage of 6 years and you have a 5 year old child by your wife. During the course of the marriage you kept 'your' money separate and you bought property and assets in your sole name rather than in joint names. What exactly did your wife get out of marrying you apart from a child?

As someone once told me - don’t get married if you can’t afford to get divorced. I never thought much of it until I got divorced, never again.