How do I budget after divorce?

When you meet with your family solicitor, part of the process will be for you and your ex-partner to provide disclosure of all your financial affairs. As part of that process, you will also be asked to prepare a budget of your current outgoings and, based on where you intend to live, a budget of your estimated outgoings for that house. This document will form a key part of the negotiation and it should be completed carefully, realistically and include all possible expenses (it is far more difficult to add items in later than it is to remove them).

You may think that trying to predict what you will need to live on in the future can seem like an overwhelming task, but it is often helpful to think about this from an early stage, and our clients often find that preparing different budgets for different options will help you to understand which is the best one for you. It will also help your solicitor to work out what is affordable and whether there is an argument for you to pay or receive spousal maintenance.  

We have prepared a template schedule of monthly outgoings which you can download here.