Just Because You are Divorcing, are You Expected to Go on Laying Golden Eggs?

Family Law - Divorce Financial Settlements

There is a concept within Divorce Law known as "do not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs." This theme crops up on a regular basis, so let me explain;

Let us take the example of Kenny; he is a dentist and has run his own practice for many years. He and his husband no longer get along and Kenny has concluded that the marriage must come to an end. Kenny and Sam have two teenage children who they adopted some years ago. Both children will leave for university in the next two years. When the couple adopted the children, it was agreed that Sam would stop working for three to four years in order to look after the children.

However, as time has moved on, Kenny has found himself working longer and longer hours. Sam had persuaded him that they should buy a bigger house which meant a greater mortgage and more council tax to pay. Sam then persuaded Kenny that the children should attend private school. This meant a huge financial outlay every month resulting in Kenny having to work longer and longer hours in order to pay for this lifestyle.

When Kenny came to see us, he was exhausted, he was working 65 hours a week, was now in his late 50s, rarely saw the children and faced complaints from Sam that he was no fun anymore! Meanwhile Sam had refused to go back to work and spent a lot of his time at the gym, going out with his friends for lunch and worse, spending an ever-increasing number of weekends away with friends leaving Kenny behind.

During negotiations, Sam’s solicitor insisted that he should retain the house, should be paid maintenance for the rest of his life; he sought a share of Kenny’s pension and wanted 50% of the value of Kenny’s business. Sam had never worked in the business.

We pointed out to Kenny that he could not go on working this amount of hours as he would become ill. He, as "the goose laying the golden eggs", would not be able to provide any money to anyone if he were unable to work.

We encouraged him to work less hours and to plan for his retirement. By doing so he realised how much money he would need to live on in the future and when he could exit his business. This came as a huge relief to Kenny who was already at the point of utter exhaustion.

Notably, no judge would allow Sam to go on refusing to work unless he had severe health issues, which in this case he clearly did not.

The outcome was that Sam obtained employment and Kenny was able to drop his hours to 30 hours a week and have a social life of his own and was able to spend time with his children.

Here at Emmersons Solicitors, we have also helped people working in the offshore industry, which is physically demanding work; some have been working offshore for more than 30 years. They cannot be expected to go on working in such difficult conditions forever and they are also at risk of their contracts suddenly being ended. Offshore workers should be able to reduce their hours or be able to take a lesser-paid job at home without being penalised in Divorce Financial Settlements.

I once heard a lady suggest to a judge that her husband should be forced to go on working offshore. Amongst other spending needs she had was the need to purchase over £300 of silk underwear per month! The response from the judge I have never forgotten. Suffice to say the Court ordered minimal maintenance and gave the lady 6 months to find a job.

A lot of the work we do is about couples making adjustments to their lifestyles and, in fact, in some cases this has helped couples to spend more time together and to save their marriage.

With over 30 years of experience, I am able to guide clients to the outcome that I know most judges would order. Happily, in 95% of cases, I can keep your matter out of Court, whether this be by means of Round Table Mediations or Mediation.

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