Do women get too much in the divorce settlement?

Divorce is really only about two things.  The children and the money.  Hopefully you can both agree amicably about your children's future wellbeing.  The money is usually the issues over which the bloodiest battles are fought.  To fight fair (or not, as the case may be) you need the very best advice from qualified advisers.  

While other European countries expect women to return to work and support themselves after the breakdown of a marriage, England has experienced almost the opposite in recent years.  In England it has become normal for women to lay claim to all the assets their husbands have brought to the marriage, and even future earnings, as well as being supported by them for the rest of their lives.

The divorce industry
This situation has spawned a vast legal industry specialising in marital disputes, and of the annual 150,000 divorces that go through English courts, 24,000 - or one in six - now involve couples from other countries where the aggrieved party, normally the wife, has managed to organise the petition here in order to get the best deal possible.

A number of celebrity cases have attracted the headlines in recent times.  The wife of the golfer Colin Montgomery received a £15m divorce settlement, and a court ruled that Middlesbrough soccer star Ray Parlour's wife was entitled to a one-third share of his future earnings to reflect her part in promoting his talents early on in his career.  It's not just the past that counts, the single future also has it's financial rewards. 

The House of Lords recently ruled that Melissa Miller was entitled to £5m - a quarter of her financier husband's fortune - in compensation for a marriage lasting under three years, and despite the fact that she had a successful career of her own. Julia McFarlane was also awarded payments for life of £250,000 a year from her former husband to compensate for the successful legal career she would have had, had she not married and chosen to raise a family.

However it is not just the wives of the rich who do well out of divorce. Non-working wives generally get 53 per cent of marital assets and England is definitely seen as the most divorce friendly country where women are concerned according to leading solicitors who specialise in divorce.

It was the White v White ruling in 2000 which is deemed to have established new rules giving women a 50:50 entitlement to marital property. Pamela and Martin White, who had run a farm together, had been married for 33 years. Mrs White was offered £800,000 when the marriage ended, but the law lords decreed the sum should be increased to £1.5m.

Since then, the notion of equality seems to have been lost in the drive for more and more women to present themselves as victims of, rather than partners in, failed marriages. When it comes to divorce, they are being seen as largely incapable of supporting themselves, and are laying claim to wealth made before marriage or previously inherited by the husband in a manner that would be unlawful in Scotland and elsewhere.

How to get an English divorce
Unhappy corporate wives have been known to confide how they lured their husbands to jobs in England knowing that after six months' residence they will qualify to present a divorce petition here with a system that is generally more favourable to women.

In Denmark for instance maintenance is uncommon and if granted is not normally paid for more than ten years.  In England the chances of a woman gaining maintenance for life increased after the 2006 McFarlane case, in which the wife received £250,000 for life while in France maintenance for the wife can be claimed if she conceived during the marriage but is paid only until the child turns three.  However all maintenance depends on the obligated spouse's ability to pay.  Assets acquired before marriage and inherited wealth are excluded from any divorce settlement.

Often derided as "mean" for its 50:50 division of matrimonial property, regardless of the length of the marriage the Scottish divorce system excludes inherited assets and assets acquired prior to marriage.  That seems a lot fairer to both parties.  Maintenance is usually paid for only three years from divorce unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Sort out your Finances: Find an IFA in your area to help you with your Divorce Finances