4 year marriage

[brian77]

My wife of four and a half years has broke down, I brought £190,000 and she brought £70,000 into the marriage, we have a house worth approximately £200,000,which she thinks she is entitled to 50% of as well as 50% of my savings approximately 50k which was inheritance from my late wife who passed away 10 years ago and 50% of my car which I had before we met, I have also spent around 20k on holidays this past 4 years which she didn't contribute to, I also paid for all household bills our entire time together.
Is she entitled to 50% of everything or just the £70,000 she brought to the marriage, as we were married under 5 years.
Please help as it seems really unfair.
Cheers Brian

[brian77]

Should have read "My marriage of 41/2 years and £60,000 on holidays

[echat11]

Celestine Maybe you can take a look.

[Celestine]

There is no set formula for calculating entitlement, however a four year marriage would be considered short and I would be astonished if she was awarded 50/50. You don't say if your wife works and what sort of age group, but even if you had 'kept her' for four years she would still be unlikely to argue she can no longer cope without.
The best bet is to make the financial application as part of the divorce. Form E is a bit of a nightmare, but it will expose everything financial. You can put forward your proposal and she can propose hers. There may be some negotiations and if that fails it will be a final hearing where the Judge decides. Behaviour/conduct/fidelity are all fairly irrelevant in the finances so don't involve any of that, in any case Form E only provides one small box to disclose such information.

[brian77]

Thank you Celestine for your reply, we are both in our late 60s, I have made a few generous offers but she will not accept anything and won't take her solicitors advice as she's very stubborn and thinks she is entitled to 50% of everything, is the short marriage rule generally set in stone or is it flexible?

[brian77]

Bump