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Question:

 

I have recently gone through a very bruising divorce, which culminated in a Final hearing in my local Court.  My former wife and I had been married for 16 years and, although I have always worked very hard, a great deal of my income has been spent by my wife insisting on an extravagant lifestyle that was fundamentally more affluent than we could really afford.

 

She and my two children live in a very large house, which is valuable, but is subject to a high mortgage, and I run my own business.

 

I reckon I take home something under £5,000 a month, if that, but at the Final Hearing of my divorce the District Judge took the view that my earnings were higher than this, in spite of what I thought was compelling evidence to the contrary.

 

I have now been ordered to transfer my entire interest in the former matrimonial home to my wife and pay her maintenance of £2,000 per month on a joint lives basis.

 

This order means that I have lost everything, and I cannot see the point of continuing to work.

 

Should I appeal?

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Answer:

 

Quite possibly.

 

You give no indication of the value of your business, which I presume does in fact have a value, but the order made against you does seem draconian in that the Courts do not generally treat the value of businesses as having the same weight as equity in a family home because the value of the business is far less capable of being realised.

 

You do  not give details of the ages of your children, but if they are of an age that would enable your wife to go out to work, even part time, then the maintenance order against you seems high, and it seems, on the face of it, unusual in the extreme that the entire capital in the former matrimonial home should  be given to your former wife along with substantial maintenance for the rest of her life.

 

The difficulty with an appeal is likely to be the cost, but it may be that if you issue the appeal a new negotiated settlement could be achieved.

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Barbara Jordan