“I thought my husband knew more about finance than me”

caption - "I thought my husband knew more about finance than me"

So often I talk to women going through divorce who haven’t dealt with finance during the marriage and instead have left managing finances to their partner. It’s quite common, at least with my clients. The wife looks after the house, children etc and the partner looks after the money. But then if they end up…

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Dealing with a divorce through Christmas

Christmas is traditionally seen as the time we connect with family, and all come together to have a great time. All feelgood Christmas movies will always show a huge family from children through to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. sitting around a table laughing, joking and having huge fun. But what if you’re right…

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Having a Blue Christmas?

Tips for the newly divorced or separated on how to survive the first Christmas. The first Christmas after divorce or separation can not only be tough, but for some, absolutely gruelling. The same may apply for the first Christmas that your children spend with your ex rather than you. However, if you are able to…

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What does “fair” mean when you’re splitting finances?

Yesterday I was contacted by a previous client (let’s call her Anna) who I hadn’t spoken to for about 10 years. When we last worked together, she needed a mortgage for herself and her partner (let’s call him Jack) to buy a new property. I initially thought Anna was phoning to discuss remortgaging and was…

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Women losing out on pensions on divorce

There were some rather shocking headlines last week regarding women losing out on pensions when they divorce. This was all sparked by an Age UK report. The report stated that is should be “the norm” for private pensions to be considered as part of the divorce process and, wherever possible, divided fairly between spouses. In…

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Would you turn away a cash sum of £300,000?

The annual Scottish Widows Women and Retirement Report, now in its 13th year was published in November. A copy of the report is available here. But be warned, it doesn’t make good reading. The survey highlights that on average, women have savings pots half the value of men. There are several reasons for this: The ever…

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Uncoupling your finances

If you and your partner have been together for some time, separating your finances is not necessarily going to be easy. However, it is absolutely vital that you can reach a financial settlement that is suitable for both parties. This is essential to the emotional wellbeing of all parties, particularly children.  You may no longer…

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Don’t ignore the pension

Data on UK divorces, released this week by the Office of National Statistics, announced that that the average age at divorce is continuing to rise; for 30 years, from 1985-2015, the average age at divorce has increased by over eight years.  The average age at divorce for a man in 2015 was 45.9 years, and…

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Divorce at over-60

Over 60 and facing separation? You’re not alone. Later life divorce is definitely on the increase – figures from the International Longevity Centre, a respected research organisation, show that between 1990 and 2012 the number of men and women over the age of 60 going through a divorce shot up by 85 per cent. There…

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