I think it would be helpful to do an up to date summary of the assets/debts
in advance of the hearing, as part of your summary of issues.
This might be by way of a short table at the head of your statement of
issues showing the capital, income and
pensions for each of you (and those in joint
names) would show current values for the house, pension etc, and your
respective incomes.
In your statement of issues, each issue
should include a very brief indication of what is at issue
e.g.
-
how the joint debt should be dealt with. Whether and to what extet the wife
should be given credit for the £1,300 she has paid to the debt since
separation.
I can't comment on what would be reasonable without knowing what the
various assets are worth, what your respective incomes are, lengthof
marraige, ages of any children etc. It sounds as though you made an offer,
he refused it and he is now putting forward a new offer, which you can
either accept or refuse.
I would suggset that you look at it in
terms of what it will mean for you, in the first instance. If you were to
accept his offer, where would it leave you? Can you afford to stay in the
house? If not, then accetoing his proposal would mean you are potentially
stuck with all of the running costs until sale, and taking the risk of any
further falls in value. It may in those circumstances be prefereable to say
you want to split both house and pension, and share the risks.
If you can, and want, to stay in the houe, what is your finacial position
going to be in the longer term? Is your health issue likely to be
long-term? do you have any pension (if not, how are you planning your
retirement?)
Costs orders are unusual in this kind of case so i
sdon't think, on what you have said, you would be likely to get any order
for costs.
You could look at making a counter offer which gets
you, in finacial terms, what you want.
So,IF you feel that the
hosue and pension cancel each other out and you'd be happy to settle on
that basis, your offer might be for him to transfer the hosue to you, to
pay you a lump sum of (say) £2,500 (which would cover his share of the
debt, plus a bit extra) and for you to agree not to claim his pension.
BUT do look at the end rsult of any offer.
If you
can't afford to stay in the hosue, look at what you would need in order to
re-house, and go from there, for instance. Look at what you can actually
afford in terms of your current income, and the
outgoings you have.
How big is the gap
between your earnings you may need to make adjustments to take acount of
that.
ALso - have you re-checked whether you would be entitled
to Legal Aid, since you've had to go part time?
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