Divorce settlements

[marge22]

Any views or experiences on how the courts divide things in a divorce case. For example if you have a child and property, what percentage of the house sale would you get and what sort of maintenence would the husband pay. I know someone whose wife has said she is going to take him for evey penny he has got..........is that possible.

[lady_p_gold]

It all depends on how much the 'marital' assets are. If you add up the debts and the assets and then you are left with a lump sum it is this lump sum that has to be divided. How it is divided would depend on the length of the marriage, the needs of both parties and if there are children involved etc. Obviously if someone is a low paid worker then they are not going to be able to pay a lot of maintenance. If they are well paid professionals then that would be a diffferent matter. The wife would also be entitled to a pension sharing order which can be quite valuable.