Graysons Solicitors In The Press

Messy Divorce? Don’t get taken to the cleaners

By Neil Dring, Partner, Graysons Solicitors.

In my 22 years as a divorce lawyer one of the most common questions I am asked is “How is a divorce settlement arrived at?” People with substantial financial assets are often worried about being ‘taken to the cleaners’ by their partner, particularly in cases involving adultery or in other circumstances where they feel at fault for the breakup.

In reality a number of factors will affect the ultimate financial settlement. The “Yardstick of Equality” and the starting point which settlements are judged against is a 50/50 split. There may, however, be other reasons why a court could depart from an equal division of assets. The fact that one partner may earn substantially more money than the other is often irrelevant as the court assesses that the contribution of the ‘homemaker’ is no less significant than that of the ‘breadwinner’. More important factors are the length of the marriage (particularly in cases of very short marriages) and the relative earning capacities of the parties involved. The last point is particularly significant in cases of long marriages where the wife may have given up her career to bring up the family and in the process reduced her future earning capacity. In cases where children are involved their welfare will always be considered by the courts to be of paramount importance.

There are many ways of achieving a settlement. The simplest cases are where sufficient cash or liquid investments are available to fund the settlement. Often assets will have to be sold or ownership transferred, the biggest capital asset usually being the marital home. In some cases the house may be sold and enough funds made available for both parties to buy new homes. If this is not the case then one party will often retain the home while the other keeps a larger share of the remaining assets which may include pensions, savings or valuable belongings such as cars. The courts encourage both parties to be financially independent after a divorce. However, if this type of clean break is not achievable immediately then maintenance may have to be paid for a period of time.

People often succumb to the temptation to conceal assets or income from their spouse if they are anticipating a messy divorce. This is not uncommon in cases where one partner runs a business, or in cases where a husband has supervised the family finances and the wife has little knowledge of the couple’s financial situation. This is a risky strategy as each party is required to give full and frank disclosure of their financial circumstances as part of the divorce process and failure to do this could severely jeopardise their position and in some cases leave them open to allegations of fraud.

What can you do to try and achieve a favourable financial settlement? Get a good lawyer who has experience of dealing with asset valuations. Pensions can easily be overvalued for the purposes of divorce which can result in an imbalance in the overall settlement. Similarly businesses are often highly individual and are only of real value when they represent a viable and marketable asset. Many smaller businesses rely fundamentally on the expertise or skills of a single person and are therefore of no value without that person at the helm; this would not be apparent from a simple accounts based valuation.

The ultimate outcome will depend on many factors and a good lawyer will help you to achieve the most favourable settlement possible.

Neil can be contacted on 0114 2729184 or via www.graysons.co.uk 

Get more information in the divorce section of our website.