Finances Checklist

This checklist is designed for families where there are no safety concerns. Abuse can be financial. If you believe you, or your child, are at risk, or that your spouse may be taking steps to conceal assets from you, please do urgently seek advice on your own from a family solicitor. The Family Courts are there to protect you.

Your overall financial situation:

• To what extent do you understand your family finances?
• Provided it is safe for you and your spouse to work together, sit down and go through everything together.
• You may want to involve an IFA to help work out your mortgage capacities and monthly spending needs, and don’t forget to take tax advice too (see below).

Your current living arrangements:

• If you’re still living together under the same roof you’ll need to agree what the continuing arrangements should be while you work to resolve the wider issues. If one or both of you does not feel safe then you must take urgent independent legal advice. Do you want legal advice before you can decide this issue anyway?
• If one of you is going to be moving out, can you agree where to? You’ll want to consider:
  • The type and quality of housing needed. Will children be living or staying there? Is this just a stop-gap solution, or for the longer-term?
  • Are you restricted to a particular location, for work, or childcare?
  • There may be rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, council tax, service charges, ground rent, set up and moving costs- how will these be funded?
  • What will be the impact on the wider family finances? If you are spending limited resources setting up another home, this may have a significant impact on what is left over for other family expenditure.
  • Tax (again), in particular if you have significant resources. The date when you separate is important from a capital gains tax (CGT) perspective. Take accountancy advice.
• If money is going to be tight it might be worth exploring what measures you can agree to take to reduce your outgoings on the family home, at least for a time-limited period. Some options might include:

• • whether a mortgage ‘holiday’ can be arranged. Will your lender defer payments for a short period of time?
  • If you presently have a repayment element to your mortgage, can it be converted to interest only?
  • Are you entitled to Council Tax Reduction? (https://www.gov.uk/apply-council-tax-reduction)

Tax:

• Do you need tax and legal advice on the timing of any divorce proceedings?
• You should always take specialist and up-to-date tax advice if you have significant financial resources to divide, to ensure you structure any financial settlement and timetable any transfers of assets tax-efficiently.

Work and benefits:

• Do you know if your employer has a Divorce Policy aimed at supporting you? If not, do you know what informal support can be given in terms of flexible working hours / time off to enable your participation in the separation process?
• If money is tight, are you presently maximising your earning capacities, having regard to any childcare and other commitments?
• Are you receiving all state benefits to which you are entitled? Find out, using gov.uk information on where to find benefits calculators (https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators)

Borrowing money:

• Do you need to borrow money to make ends meet for now, and if so where from? How do you strike the balance between meeting your present needs and not undermining your future prospects? Take financial advice.
• Should you repay money previously lent by family members, if this is agreed? Is this affordable at present?
• Should you repay money previously lent by family members, if this is not agreed? Consider carefully whether this is likely to create difficulty between you at this stage, and be aware that any unilateral steps taken by you can, in certain circumstances, be ‘undone’ by the court adding the money you transferred back into the pot.