I am unfortunately at the start of a separation from my wife of 24 years with 2 kids and trying to get some certainty around all the uncertainty. I am still living in family home and starting discussions on property settlement with my ex.
My question is around 'when is a line in the sand' drawn as far as financial assets. By that I mean is the value of our superannuation that will get split based on current value at time of agreement to separate or when the final property settlement is legalised (which could take months).
Same applies to bank accounts. We have had one joint bank account for many years which is also our mortgage account. All bills paid from here and salaries go directly in there too.
As we also take any money from here for living expenses we never really have our own money.
Following the announcement of separation we obviously can no longer do it this way but my ex expects our salaries to still go onto the account and we both take out the same amount each month for ourselves for personal stuff. Remaining joint account will still get used for all family home mortgage, bills, food and kids stuff.
In theory that is fine but I earn a lot more and feel I will be paying substantially more into mortgage every month than she does. Fine before but we are separated now and I believe that as long as we share the household bills during this interim period ( I am happy to pay above my share for fairness) then any additional money we should keep for our own account to pay for our own things.
Surely as long as I am ensuring all the household bills are being paid including substantial school fees then any additional I earn I should be able to keep and do what I want with.
These personal accounts should then not be taken into the property pool upon final settlement as 'post separation' earnings.
I believe I am being more than fair by ensuring 60% of the monthly household costs are being paid (my ex pays 40%) so we are treading water during the interim period and before final settlement and we both keep the remainder of our salaries for own use but my ex wants all the bills paid and any extra I earn to reduce the mortgage.
At what point is personal earnings following agreed separation date taken into account or am I just going to have to split every penny I earn even if when it is after we have separated?
Hoping for some advice on where I stand ....
My question is around 'when is a line in the sand' drawn as far as financial assets. By that I mean is the value of our superannuation that will get split based on current value at time of agreement to separate or when the final property settlement is legalised (which could take months).
Same applies to bank accounts. We have had one joint bank account for many years which is also our mortgage account. All bills paid from here and salaries go directly in there too.
As we also take any money from here for living expenses we never really have our own money.
Following the announcement of separation we obviously can no longer do it this way but my ex expects our salaries to still go onto the account and we both take out the same amount each month for ourselves for personal stuff. Remaining joint account will still get used for all family home mortgage, bills, food and kids stuff.
In theory that is fine but I earn a lot more and feel I will be paying substantially more into mortgage every month than she does. Fine before but we are separated now and I believe that as long as we share the household bills during this interim period ( I am happy to pay above my share for fairness) then any additional money we should keep for our own account to pay for our own things.
Surely as long as I am ensuring all the household bills are being paid including substantial school fees then any additional I earn I should be able to keep and do what I want with.
These personal accounts should then not be taken into the property pool upon final settlement as 'post separation' earnings.
I believe I am being more than fair by ensuring 60% of the monthly household costs are being paid (my ex pays 40%) so we are treading water during the interim period and before final settlement and we both keep the remainder of our salaries for own use but my ex wants all the bills paid and any extra I earn to reduce the mortgage.
At what point is personal earnings following agreed separation date taken into account or am I just going to have to split every penny I earn even if when it is after we have separated?
Hoping for some advice on where I stand ....
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