Divorce Financial Settlement

Untangling years of shared finances and assets can be pretty daunting, and complicated. That’s where our expert solicitors come in. Because getting a satisfactory divorce settlement in place, will be an important steppingstone to securing your future after the divorce has gone through.

A divorce financial settlement is a legally binding decision and determines how you and your former partner will split up your assets and wealth when the marriage ends.

Reaching a financial settlement can be complicated

We’ll always do whatever we can to keep everything easy to understand, avoid legal jargon wherever we can, and we’ll give you a clear picture of your financial situation. Our expert divorce lawyers will help you through this process, enabling you to make the best decisions for your financial security now and in the future.

We have a great network of Independent Financial Advisors and other financial experts that we can recommend. By doing this, we can ensure that you get the very best advice and a completely tailored approach.

What’s included in the divorce financial settlement?

The financial settlement will establish how your financial issues and any assets will be split following the divorce. But what is included in the settlement? Well, it can include any of the following:

  • Property (homes and property owned)

  • Money (including savings, life insurance and any investments)

  • Vehicles

  • Pensions

  • Businesses

  • Debts, loans, credit cards, etc

  • Contents of the house and personal items (anything valued over £500 must be disclosed)

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What happens if a divorce financial settlement can’t be agreed?

Where the divorcing couple can’t agree on a fair division of assets or arrangements for continued financial support, we’d strongly suggest mediation. If this still does not result in a financial settlement being agreed upon, then it will be referred to the court, for a settlement to be put in place.

When deciding what kind of divorce settlement to put in place, the court will always make the best interests of any children involved, the absolute priority. The court will want to ensure that proper housing and financial support are in place for the children after the divorce becomes final.

What happens with child maintenance?

The best situation is for parents to come to a mutual agreement regarding child maintenance. If you’re able to do this, then you don’t have to follow any rules, you can include whatever you want, as long as you both agree. You should always try and negotiate a realistic amount so that the one who is paying won’t fall behind with payments.

If you can’t come to an agreement between yourselves, then maintenance can be collected under a Government scheme (Child Maintenance Service), or child maintenance arrangements can be made by a court order.

Our expert divorce lawyers can help you establish the best course of action regarding child maintenance. Call us on 01752 827030 or email us and we’ll chat about how we’re able to help you.

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Frequently asked questions

In this video series, our experienced legal professionals will delve into a wide range of topics and questions that commonly arise in finance-related family law matters. From understanding the division of marital assets to exploring the intricacies of spousal support and child-related financial obligations, we've curated this series to empower you with practical information and valuable insights to make informed decisions about your financial future.

  • It’s definitely preferable to get a divorce financial settlement in place before the divorce is finalised. It is possible, however, to agree a financial settlement after the divorce, providing it’s done before either party remarries.

  • It’s important to bear in mind that both parties will be liable for any debts run up on the account. And this applies to other forms of joint borrowing or spending including credit cards. If your partner has frozen accounts and not provided you with means of living expenses, then you can apply to the Court for an interim financial order.

    If your former partner is the sole owner of the family home, we would also suggest that you apply to the Land Registry to register an interest in the property. This will mean that your former partner can’t sell the house without your knowledge or consent.

  • This really depends on a number of factors, including:

    • The contributions that each partner has made to the relationship

    • Length of the marriage

    • Each partner’s needs

    • And the standard of living before the break up

    If a couple divorce with no children involved, following a relatively short marriage, it might be fair for them both to part without needing to pay any maintenance but taking with them the assets that they brought into the relationship.

    However, where a couple divorce after 30 years marriage, the husband has been working in a decent job, while the wife stayed at home bringing up the children, then a financial settlement would definitely be appropriate. A fair settlement here may be that the wife is entitled to half of the assets, including half of her husband’s pension, and a significant proportion of his income until he retires.

  • If your former partner refuses to pay maintenance, then you will need to ask the Court for a financial order. You will be able to apply for a financial order at any time before or after the divorce but cannot do so if you have remarried.

    If a financial order is already in place, but your former partner refuses to pay it, then you can ask the Court to enforce it. Here, the Court may make an order for your former partner’s employer to pay you automatically.

    We would suggest that you contact us immediately if your former partner stops paying maintenance.

  • If you’ve been treating your former partner’s children as your own, and part of the family, then you may well have financial obligations for them. Your former partner could ask the court to order you to pay child maintenance, and to continue paying for anything that you had paid before you divorced (school fees, club subscriptions etc).

  • In a lot of cases, yes you can. This is usually referred to as a “clean break” settlement. Essentially, instead of paying regular maintenance payments, you can instead agree to pay a lump sum or give assets to a particular value. Of course, if you don’t have sufficient assets under your control, this option won’t be available.

    Once the court has signed off on this, neither party can return to court to ask for more maintenance in the future.

    The obvious advantage here is that you will be able to make a completely clean break from your former partner. However, “clean break” settlements do not apply to the payment of maintenance of your children.

  • Yes, you most certainly can do, though if there are significant assets (money, investments, pensions, properties, businesses etc) or debts involved, then we would very strongly suggest that you get legal advice and support in making the settlement. We would then be able to ensure that your interests are being protected.

    Our divorce solicitors would be able to advise on the structure of the agreement, make recommendations over trading off property or other assets, etc. And we’d be able to tell you if the agreement that you’ve both come to is fair or not.

    Depending on the state of the relationship between both divorcing parties, we would usually suggest that you sit down and negotiate a settlement, often with a solicitor or a mediator involved. Full disclosure of all assets and financial situations is vitally important though – nothing should be hidden.

    If you’re unable to agree on a settlement, and mediation doesn’t work, the court will impose a financial settlement, that may not be of liking to either of you.

    You may need to resort to a Court ordered financial settlements if your former partner is being unreasonable. It’s much better to make this decision rather than allowing negotiations to drag on forever.

  • Technically, your pension is classed as an asset – just as your home and your investments and money in the bank account are assets. The value of your pension can therefore be taken into account when deciding on your divorce settlement.

    There are a number of options that we would suggest are option to you when it comes to your pension and how it’s treated.

    1. As already mentioned above, you could offset the value of the pension by transferring a lump sum to your former partner (or other assets to the same value)

    2. You could arrange for a proportion of your pension to be paid to your former partner when the pension is paid to you.

    3. You could also arrange for the pension to be split into two separate pension funds (this is called pension sharing).

  • Quite simply, you can go back to the Court to have the financial settlement changed to reflect this.

  • People’s lives change all the time. You may be made redundant, or you may have to take a lower (or higher) paid job. If your circumstances do change, and you’re no longer able to afford the maintenance payments to your former partner, then you can go back to Court to ask them to change the maintenance order to reflect this.

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