Divorce Self-Employed Husband UK

You are likely to be concerned about proving what assets your husband has, establishing the true value of those assets, working out his income and how you are going to achieve a fair divorce financial settlement.

Our specialist family law solicitors can help if you are divorcing a self-employed husband. Our team is experienced in advising on complex divorce settlements, involving family businesses, investments and pensions and we will be committed to achieving a fair financial settlement for you.

Initial Discussion

This article provides general information and does not constitute legal advice on any individual circumstances.

For an initial discussion and a no-obligation quote, get in touch with us today by simply calling us on 01234 343134 or email us at enquiries@fullersfamilylaw.com and a member of our team will get back to you.

Divorcing the Self-employed

No self-employed divorce is ever the same as there are so many different scenarios, such as:

• A husband who is self-employed and earning a living in a business where a lot of the turnover comes in cash payments.
• A freelance worker with an unstable income.
• A family business where both husband and wife are self-employed and involved in the business.
• The husband’s pension has funded the purchase of business premises so pension and business assets are tied up together.
• A self-employed husband where it is suspected that he has been planning a separation and divorce for a while and has therefore syphoned off income and hidden assets.
• A prenuptial agreement was entered into before your marriage and you are not sure how this will affect your entitlement to a share of your husband’s business assets and wealth.

If you are divorcing a self-employed husband, it is particularly important that you instruct a family law solicitor who has experience in divorces involving businesses and tracing assets and income.

Tips on Divorcing a Self-employed Husband

Our tips on divorcing a self-employed husband include:

• If your divorce is amicable, and you enjoy working together in a family business but just cannot live together, then your business relationship could continue provided you secure a financial court order from the family court and also get a new shareholder agreement or partnership agreement drawn up. The type of document you need depends on the status of the business.
• If you are concerned that the value of the business is being understated so you will not end up with a fair financial settlement, make sure that any business assets and goodwill are accurately and independently valued by a forensic accountant. In divorce financial settlement proceedings, the court can order a valuation by a jointly appointed expert.
• If you are worried that business assets are being transferred to defeat your financial claims you may need to make an application to the court for an order to preserve assets until the court has made a financial court order in your favour.
• If you are struggling to prove your husband’s income from his self-employed business because of an absence of records and paperwork, your family law solicitor may be able to ask the court to draw inferences about your husband’s level of income because of your lifestyle during your marriage. For example, if the mortgage or car lease payments or holiday expenditure was not consistent with declared self-employed income.
• If you divorced your husband and secured a spousal maintenance order you may want to make an application to the court to vary upwards the level of payments received if your ex-husband’s expenditure and lifestyle are not consistent with the picture painted by him when the financial court order was made and when the court assessed the level of spousal maintenance payable.
• If you separated or divorced a few years ago but did not get a financial court order because you felt intimidated or for other reasons then provided you have not remarried you will still be able to make a financial claim

At Fullers, we combine friendly and approachable legal advice with expert representation, to get the best financial settlement that meets your goals.