HUSBAND NOT WANTING TO PAY SM

We are in the process of divorce having been married for 5 years with two children aged 8 and 4.

Neither of us wants to keep the family home. In total our assets are worth approx £250k.

My hsband has informed me that whilst he is happy to pay child maintenance, he absolutely under no circumstances wishes to pay spousal maintenance.

I have been a housewife for the past 8 years and still do not work. My husband earns £53K plus car allowance, fuel allowance, bonuses, pension etc.

With this is mind, what percentage of the equity would be fair settlement?

Hi there

The first thing is to work out what your entitlement to SM would be, which is done by looking at your reasonable needs and making sure you have enough from all sources of income.

Secondly the term of the spousal maintenance has to be calculated (so we need to work out how long you should receive it for).

Thirdly, when you have a figure for the amount and the number of years, a lawyer would look at an actuarial table, which would show what lump sum is required to buy out that level of SM.

Amanda

Hi Amanda,

Thanks very much for the reply. I didn't realise that it was worked out in that way.

Am I right in assuming a 60-40 split with an additional buy out option (so to speak) for the SM?

Regards