There are significant differences in how the law deals with property depending on whether you are married or not. If you are not married, the law does not recognise you as a couple and this doesn’t change depending on how long you have lived together or if you have children. So, what are your options?
Unless there is a property or other asset held in joint names, then the starting point is that you have no claims against anything owned by the other party. Nor is there any obligation on one partner from a cohabiting relationship to provide maintenance to the other, although if there are children then all claims for child maintenance remain unaffected.
Pension on Divorce | Financial claims are not extinguished by a Final Divorce Order (formerly a Decree Absolute) and can still be pursued.
It is a quirk of the system that any pension sharing order has to be expressed as a percentage of the fund from which it is being taken. Pension funds are not the same as money in a bank.
The courts are likely to give considerable weight to nuptial agreements, and the weight applied can be influenced by following a few important steps.
If you did not think about pensions when you divorced, particularly if your divorce was after December 2000, you should speak to a lawyer to find out if this was something you should have looked at and whether it would be right for anything to be done about it now …
The initial consultation with our divorce lawyer will cover options for resolving your claims, financial disclosure, potential outcomes, and arrangements for children. The focus is taking control of your future.
The existence of family business assets tends to complicate divorce proceedings. Those running the business are anxious to know how the Court will treat their business and their other half of course wants to know if they are entitled to a share of the ‘business’ and if not why not?
Disregard entirely the law relating to marital breakdown when it comes to cohabitation. The following are the principle misconceptions many people hold and need to be corrected …
Discretionary trusts are where the beneficiaries and / or their entitlements to assets are in a trust fund but are not fixed. They are determined by the person who set up the trust (the settlor). Where the trust is a testamentary trust (i.e. made in a Will), it is common for the settlor to sign a Letter of Wishes which relates to the exercise of the discretion.