Family Law Solicitors
People often say that dividing finances on divorce and civil partnership dissolution is one of the most stressful life events you can go through, but these people didn’t have our family lawyers to help them. We can provide clear, straightforward advice about financial agreements and claims upon relationship breakdown.
Married couples and civil partners are able to make a number of financial claims on separation. These include claims in respect of capital and other assets, property, pensions, and maintenance for each other and the children. We will guide and advise you through the process to work out the right financial settlement for you.
At WSP Solicitors, our team of warm, friendly dissolution and divorce solicitors provides practical legal advice to individuals and families across Gloucestershire. With offices in Gloucester and Stroud, we are local solicitors serving local people.
We understand that working out financial arrangements can be difficult, particularly where you and your partner have lived together for many years and built a life together. Untangling all the threads while ensuring your agreement is fair can quickly lead to arguments over matters like:
From straightforward advice about dividing savings or the family home, to resolving more complex matters involving things like multiple properties and family businesses, we can help you address all these matters and more.
With us by your side, you probably won’t need to go to court. We help most of our clients resolve issues and come to a financial arrangement through informal discussion and negotiation.
For high-net-worth couples, navigating the financial aspects of a divorce can be particularly complex with the possibility of many setbacks. To ensure that you experience as smooth a divorce proceeding as possible, working with expert solicitors is the best way forward.
A divorce is high net worth whereby the assets owned by one spouse or both combine to exceed the needs of the couple. High net-worth marriages are those which have significant financial wealth which may include business assets, personal assets, inherited wealth, substantial income and or savings, properties, pensions, complicated trusts, and so on.
Our specialists have much experience supporting clients through high net-worth divorce. We can help divorcing couples reach financial settlements, covering a diverse range of areas from significant savings and multiple properties to businesses, inherited wealth, offshore assets, and pensions.
High net worth divorces may give rise to a number of issues regarding arrangements for children, and financial provisions for children, including school fees and general living costs. Disagreements may also occur where one parent wishes to relocate with the children.
For more information about high net worth divorce, please get in touch with our experts at WSP.
No one situation is the same and who gets the business in a divorce depends on various factors. It is worth noting that even if the business is solely owned by one spouse, and it was acquired before they got married or entered into a civil partnership, the business is still likely to be considered a marital / partnership asset, and consequently, divided between both parties.
Depending on whether the business is owned by one or partners, there are several options which may be used to divide the business:
Selling the business and splitting the proceeds is an option, however, this is a rare occurrence and is more of a last resort where issues have continued to arise and the Court has ruled that there is no other choice.
If you are working towards a high net worth divorce settlement, and either you or your partner own a business, it is advisable to get in touch with a specialist lawyer.
We will guide and advise you through the process to work out the right financial settlement for you. The starting point is usually to gather information about your financial circumstances and those of your former partner through a process known as ‘financial disclosure’ and also to consider your future needs and those of any children. We will then advise you on the available options and help you to negotiate the best settlement possible.
There are several ways we can help you sort out your finances, including:
Going to court will usually be a last resort and is typically only necessary in particularly challenging or complex circumstances.
All your financial assets acquired during your marriage or civil partnership should be considered, as well as other income and debts. A detailed financial settlement could include:
Savings and investments – both in your joint names or solely owned
The family home – you will need to decide matters such as whether one party should keep it, whether it should be sold and the equity divided between you, or who will pay the mortgage and the bills if you keep it in joint names.
Other properties – if you own buy-to-let properties, second homes or holiday homes, you need to decide matters such as who will keep what, whether any properties should be sold, who will be responsible for maintaining mortgages and repairs, and who should receive any income from the properties.
Pensions – there are several ways you can divide pensions, including pension sharing (creating a new pension for one partner using a proportion of the other’s pension) and pension offsetting (allowing one partner a greater share of other assets to ‘offset’ the value of the other partner’s pension).
Trusts – if you or your partner have beneficial interests under a trust, these could still form part of your divorce financial proceedings (even though you do not legally own the assets).
Family businesses – whether you and your partner own a business together or one of you owns a business, your interests will likely form part of your financial settlement. There are many ways you can handle businesses to avoid damaging them during the divorce or dissolution. However, the process can become complicated so it is important to seek legal advice and financial advice before deciding anything.
You do not have to make a financial settlement but it is highly recommended that you do.
While divorce or dissolution ends your marriage or civil partnership with your partner, it does not end your financial obligations to one another. If you do not settle the financial matters, your former partner could claim you at any time after the divorce or dissolution is finalised. Even if you have no assets to split at the time of separation, if you later come into some money, your former partner could start legal proceedings against you to claim a share.
A financial settlement or financial order puts an end to your financial obligations and prevents you and your former partner from being able to make any future claims. This is referred to as a ‘clean break’. The clean break can either be full or ‘capital only’. A capital clean break is more appropriate for couples who have an ongoing spousal maintenance agreement in place – the financial settlement will allow for your maintenance agreement and future maintenance discussions but prevent other claims against your assets (such as your house or savings).
The court will expect your financial arrangements to be fair to both of you. The starting point for financial settlements should always be a 50-50 split, however, you must also consider other factors to decide what is fair. Often, the final result is an uneven split such as 60-40 or 70-30. The factors that should be considered include:
The court’s ultimate goal will be to find a solution that enables everyone in the family to move on with their lives and maintain a decent standard of living.
For expert divorce and dissolution financial arrangements advice, please contact your local WSP branch in Gloucester or Stroud today. If you would like to request a callback, you can use our quick online enquiry form.
I have nothing but praise for all of the people I have dealt with over the years. Nothing has been too much trouble and I would have no hesitation in recommending them.P. Browne
A very thorough and professional company. Always found staff to be very approachable, helpful and very clear in their explanations of all options available to me. Would strongly recommend WSP.D. Maton
WSP is the one-stop superstore for all your legal requirements. It is staffed with friendly, professional and expert people who are a pleasure to deal with. As a long term user of the company I always recommend WSP to all of my friends based on my own happy experience.D. Wilkins
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