Divorce Financial Settlements  

What is a Divorce Financial Settlement?

Divorce financial settlements determine how matrimonial assets and property are to be split. Normally, everything that was gained during the relationship is included, however assets that were gained prior to a marriage, for example property, can be included under certain circumstances. 

Matrimonial assets include: 

• Family home and other real estates 
• Pensions, savings and cash 
• Assets  
• Businesses 
• Stocks and bonds 
• Vehicles

Child maintenance is normally agreed separately to the divorce financial settlement, and done through the Child Maintenance Service. However, depending on how much maintenance is to be paid and the income of each party, these may have a bearing on how matrimonial assets are split.

How do Divorce Financial Settlements Work?

The financial side of a divorce is dealt with separately from the actual divorce itself, and the child arrangements. As with everything involved in divorce, if you are on amicable terms with your ex-partner, you can come to an informal financial agreement and avoid involvement from the court.

However, in the vast majority of cases this is not possible. In these cases, you will need to ask the court to rule on how your financial assets are split.

As with child arrangements, you must show the family court that you have gone through mediation prior to them being able to intervene in your financial settlement.

Once this is done, both sides will need to present their financial assets, and put forward their case for why they feel they are entitled to each asset, or a stake in the asset. If both parties can’t agree, a judge will intervene.

The judge will look at a range of factors, including each side’s age, living expenses and parental responsibilities, amongst other things to determine the needs of each side and make a decision accordingly.

How a Lawyer Can Help With Divorce Financial Settlements

Divorce financial settlements are complex and the consequences of getting a poor judgement can be far-reaching. Furthermore, if either side refuses to disclose all of their assets or worse, hide their finances, any financial settlement could be further skewed out of your favour.

A divorce lawyer will help you understand what you can reasonably expect to get out of the settlement based off your lifestyle and needs, as well as what you should expect to give up.

Finally, they will help you to structure the required information and represent you at court if a hearing is required.