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A judge’s ruling on maintenance pay following a divorce could introduce major changes to the amount of money partners receive after a split.

The case of Ian and Tracey Wright is already being hailed as a landmark case. To summarise, after the pair divorced in 2008 Tracey was still receiving £75,000 a year in maintenance pay from her former husband of 11 years, a millionaire racehorse surgeon; £33,000 of this sum was going directly to the spouse for her personal upkeep.

However, Lord Justice Pitchford said divorcees with children aged over seven should be working for a living, putting a stop to her spousal maintenance, instead only seeing money handed over for the child. He essentially ruled that she should get a job and not be supported for life.

It had previously been the case that mothers who kept custody of the child after a divorce could claim maintenance pay for both her and the child until he or she were into their teenage years. The ruling could change all that, lowering the age to seven.

With divorce cases such as regular occurrence in the UK – around 40 per cent of marriages now ending this way – negotiations over how to split assets and calculate maintenance pay is a common problem. The experienced forensic accounting team at Frenkels Forensics regularly acts on behalf of one party or both parties jointly in a divorce investigation to help bring matters to a more satisfactory end.

From assessing the full assets owned by each party and deciding how to split them through to calculating fair maintenance pay amounts, Frenkels provides a scientific approach to the negotiations. By quantitatively proving what would constitute as a fair split, the forensic accountants can dramatically reduce the time and effort it can otherwise take for a resolution to be found.

For expert financial help in settling a divorce contact Frenkels Forensics for an independent appraisal.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for advice in any aspect of forensic accountancy, then do get in touch via Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn or by visiting our website www.frenkels.com

By Vitek Frenkel – find me via Google+.