I'm leaving my husband. What are my financial entitlements?

[foxyroxy141]

Hi guys. After an extremely unhappy couple of years (which included an incident of domestic violence last year) I am finally leaving my husband. We have a joint mortgage (we bought our house in Dec last yr) although i have not contributed financially to this as I am a full time mum to a 3 yr old. Can anyone tell me what exactly I should be entitled to? this is what I think I should get.....1/2 the deposit on the house, 1/2 of whatever the house has gone up in value since we bought it and 1/2 the value of the contents of the house. He has offered me �5000 saying 'its either that or nothing' and that he can't afford to give me any more. if i force him to sell the house I will get even less as there is an early repayment fee of �6500 if we sell now plus estate agents fees etc. Does anyone know what I will be entitled to in child maintenance i.e. is it a fixed rate e.g. % of wages or does it depend on his outgoings? He has no other children. Thanks for any help x

[seatrout]

You need to see a matrimonial solicitor. The fact that you have not contributed to the mortgage does not matter. The court will take account of the fact that you need a roof over your head for the child - can he afford to continue to pay the mortgage and rent somewhere? There are no hard and fast rules in these cases and the sooner you take advice the better

[fredpuli47]

"He can't afford to give me anymore" That's what they all say. ( And lucky him, that he's got �5,000 to spare and hasn't the job of looking after his child at home instead of going out to work!). Seriously you must go to a matrimonial solicitor as soon as possible. The courts have heard it all before and so have the solicitors. You have a lot more rights, and so has your child, than your husband either knows of or, if he does know, is acknowledging. Don't be bullied or persuaded into doing anything or signing anything.

[Bewlay Bros]

My natural instincts as a man, would be don't be too harsh on him. However, I abhor domestic violence in all its ugly guises, so take the cowardly b4stard to the cleaners.

As said, this must go through a solicitor. If you can't afford to keep the house on yourself, then he will have to sell up to make way for a decent provison for yourself.

Also 3 years primary care, even at the mininum wage, will accrue to a decent sum.

Regarding maintence, you have the CSA at your behest.