Case study

If we separate what happens to the house?

Our case studies are based on real situations but some details have been changed so our clients cannot be identified

Mr. and Mrs. Q had been married for 15 years and had children aged 6, 10 and 13.

Mr. Q had a good job, which he had been in for many years with a modest private pension.

Mrs. Q had not worked since she started to have children but had been employed as a nursery nurse before then.

They owned their own house subject to a mortgage. Mr. Q also had some money he had managed to save and some shares.

They separated and Mrs. Q came to see us for her divorce.

We negotiated payments to be made by Mr. Q to Mrs. Q for herself and the children whilst we investigated the parties finances fully. Unfortunately Mr. Q proved less than willing to release all the information we needed about his savings and the shares and so we issued proceeding in the county court.

The court ordered that Mr. Q had to give us the details. When all the
figures had been obtained we managed to negotiate a deal that Mrs. Q would keep the house for herself and the children. Mr. Q would keep his pension rights and the savings and the shares. Mr. Q would continue to pay Mrs. Q money for the children calculated on the CSA scale and money for herself until the children were at secondary school. She had found herself a part-time job but would be able to get a better job when the youngest child got to secondary school. In the meantime she was in receipt of child tax credit which increased her income significantly.

We applied to court for an order including these terms so that both
parties knew where they stood and, so far as was possible; they could separate financially and move on in their lives.