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Hello new to the forum.
My wife wants to seperate after 20 years of marriage, does not wish to seek marriage guidence or councilling, we have 2 children of 14 and 16
I am against this but she tells me there is no chance of reconcilliation (been sleeping in seperate beds for 4 months now).
I am the primary wage earner of around 50k and she is on around 11k (3 days a week).
I am/have remained in the marrital home throughout this difficult period.
The home it self has around 200k worth of equity.
question ) If this goes to court as we cant seem to agree between us.
what would be the likely outcome of the house and the children (my son has already expressed he wants to live with me).....
Should I avoid court ? I dont mind the expense if its going to be a fair outcome or could this be much worse for me, ? or should I just stay behind the process to see what she does.? she hasn;t even explored the legal route yet.
I have suggested a 50/50 split after sale of home, remain in the same area and I will pay 15% net income for daughter until 17 or end of full time education.. full access for both children for both.
She thinks she is entitled to a lot more ?
I didnt want any of this
Please advise
Hi there,
With that amount of equity court could be an option but you may end up worse off if the court award your ex more than you expect, also the amount you would pay in court fees and solicitors fees may end up way over what you could agree on if you gain an agreement out of court.
You could maybe attend mediation to see if having an impartial body present will allow you to be able to get to an agreement, consider allowing ,more than 50% equity to save having to go to court, if you end up in court it could be a very long drawn out process that cost more than the amount you have given up, the other thing to bear in mind is that your ex could ask for spousal maintenance to allow her to continue to live in the way she has done whilst with you, a court would need to order this so m,ay be another reason to try and settle out of court.
I would also consider child maintenance that you pay as legally your ex would be liable to also pay you a % of her wage towards your son if he lives with you.
I would suggest that you go to a solicitor to get advice on what the likely outcome is - both best case and worst case and then see if you can use that to negotiate with your ex as to how this goes.
As far as I am aware, if it goes to court, each of you will pay your own legal costs, and it sounds as if you are far more able to afford this than she is, so it allows to apply a bit of pressure to come to a fair outcome.
As your children are fairly close to the age where you are no longer financially responsible, perhaps you could consider maintaining a larger share of the equity, to be released when your children finish school/college education.
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