Divorce: what could it mean for your finances?

According to the BBC’s ‘The Life Project’**, leading   British legal firm Stewarts saw a 122% rise in divorce enquiries   between July & October, compared with the same period last year. And the Office for National Statistics (ONS)*** claims that overall, 42% marriages end in divorce.

So what could divorce mean for your finances? 

Many of us enter relationships and after a period we buy shared goods, we enter shared accommodation and in some cases home ownership and we even set up joint bank accounts, so untangling the financial web can be a mammoth task.

With many men out earning women and the gender pay gap not being closed yet, many women fall foul financially, especially when they are left raising the children for the majority of the time.

According to Finance Monthly**** Mothers who either didn’t work before the divorce or are forced to scale back their hours at work after a divorce in order to care for their children are likely to require public assistance to help pay their bills. Unfortunately, even with public assistance, they often are not able to afford to pay all of their bills, and over 30%   of mothers lose their homes following a divorce.

Matters are made worse by the fact that an incredible 75% of divorced mothers who are supposed to receive child support payments from their ex do not receive the full amount owed.

However, men often fall foul when it comes to significant child support payments taking large sums from their monthly income, which especially for lower earners can have a significant impact on their financial stability.