Me and my ex wife were divorced 3 years ago.
The ex wife has now decided to come after me for future inheritance and spousal maintenance in form of a lump sum. My ex wife earns double what I do as well as earning more from freelancing, she earns over £50,000 a year. I already pay double as child maintenance advise as well as half of childrens hobbies which is approx £150 a month on top of the £500 maintenance. This is over 1/3 of my pay. I have mortgage commitments as well as bills. Is she entitled to a lump sum? I don’t have any spare money floating around so don’t see how I could afford it anyway.
hi,
there is good info here: https://www.mediateuk.co.uk/guide-to-spousal-maintenance/#:~:text=Spousal%20maintenance%20can%20be%20agreed,entitled%20to%20it%20or%20not.
these women are always hungry for cash.
basically when you was married did you pay for her lifestyle , fund her day to day activities? or did she earn herself and pay her own way.
she can claim if she relied on you , for eg gave her job up took a loss of earning to raise kids while you solely worked.
other things come into play like how much you earn, have saved up, your equity etc. if you have no savings, didnt pay her way during marriage i dont think she has much of a case. the judge will look at all these things.
no I didn’t fund anything, she has always earned more than me, she currently earns more than me and wife’s salary put together. I don’t have any savings or equity, after I have paid bills and double the child maintenance that I should, I have no money left. I live pay check to pay check.
doesnt seems like she has much grounds at first glance. but all the facts need to be known.
how long was you married for, normally more than 7 years is considered a long marriage. when you got divorced did you not get a clean break order?
why are you paying double child maintenance? you should only be paying whats advised according to the cms calculator or by cms themselves. how did it become double?
also courts look at that you have enough to survive as well, they wont put you in difficulty living and paying yr monthly bills. spousal maintenance is based on additional earning\savings after taking into consideration reasonable living costs.
how old are your kids? im wondering if shes trying not to work to say she looks after kids full time and hence requires maintenance now. do the kids stay with you at all? because if they dont, her needs are greater than yours. but this is what child maintenance is for. lots of factors have to be looked at by the judge, so dont give into any of her demands.
good luck man.
I pay the extra to cover their hobbies. On solicitors advice I’m now cutting this.
she will never give up her job, she loves it more than our children.
I have them over night six times a month and in the evenings three times a week. I also do three school morning runs a week, school is an hour from my house and ten minutes from hers but hey ho it is what it is.
we were married 9 years and did not get a clean break. She wouldn’t sign one.
My solicitor said she hasn’t got a leg to stand on so that has put my mind at ease.
yea doesnt seem she has any grounds. just because she wants doesnt mean she gets. but the majority of the times the women have us up against the wall and they know the loopholes to try and screw us. stand your ground and dont agree. even look into a enforcement of a clean break order so she doesnt come back again in the future, you need to protect yrself.