During a divorce a likely outcome is that one party will have to pay out some money to the other party. How much will depend on all sorts of different factors, such as who has custody of the children and how much contact the other parent has, the financial needs of both party, the standard of living during the marriage, any disabilities, the contributions made by both parties to the marriage.
As every couple’s situation is different there are no rigid guidelines that judges can follow. An experienced divorce lawyer can advise you on the likelihood of your outcome and can help you to achieve the best possible result.
There are four main orders that can be made. These are a lump sum, periodical payments, pension orders and property adjustments.
Any periodical payments will generally come with a clause that will alter the payments in the future depending on the changes of circumstance. If circumstances do change it may require another trip to court to alter the payments or to stop them altogether.
A pension sharing order involves one party receiving a percentage of the other party’s pension. This tends to be in a situation where one member of the marriage has been unable to accrue a pension as they have been supporting the other member in their career.
Dividing up finances is always a painful and stressful process that can cause arguments and bitterness. It is important that you are properly represented in court so you maintain financial stability for the rest of your life.