What Assets Can’t Be Split in a Divorce (UK)?
Quick summary:
Concerned about asset division in a divorce? While most assets are considered matrimonial property, some remain protected, including:
- Pre-marital assets – items owned before the marriage.
- Inheritance – money or property received individually.
- Business interests – depending on ownership structure.
- Personal gifts – given exclusively to one spouse.
- Pensions – which may be divided, but not always.
This guide explains what factors affect these exemptions and how courts decide.
“What’s mine is yours”, as Shakespeare penned, becomes a legal fact, not just a romantic turn of phrase, when you get married or enter into a civil partnership* in the UK.
In marriage, the house, car, savings, and belongings that you both own individually will become ‘matrimonial assets’ and are governed by a fairly old law, the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1973. By getting married, you and your partner are deemed in law to share ownership of whatever you own, regardless of who bought it or who is named as legal owner.
If you later decide to divorce, the ‘matrimonial assets’ will need to be divided in a way that is fair. In most cases, divorcing couples are able to agree how this will work (with the aid of mediation services via their solicitors), but if not then the Family Courts can decide how to split the assets in a way that is fair to both of you and meets the needs of both of you and of any children you may have.
Does my ex get half of everything in a divorce?
The Matrimonial Causes Act doesn’t expressly say who should get what in a divorce. There are just too many variables to consider in each case to make a ‘one-size-fits-all’ law about how to split assets up in a divorce.
Caselaw (real cases of real couples who have gone to court and had a judge decide what should happen to their matrimonial assets) has helped solicitors to give advice to divorcing couples about what a court would be likely to decide. This is not set in stone, and is only a guide, but the case of White v White in 2001 established that, as a starting point, a divorcing couple should split everything 50/50.
However, that 50/50 split might change in favour of one of you or the other, depending on lots of factors.
A ‘fair’ split does not necessarily mean an equal split.
What’s the 70/30 rule in divorce?
You might have heard of the 70/30 rule, or even the 80/20 rule. These would suggest that there is a rule that one person should get 70% (or 80%) and the other person receive 30% (or 20%).
These ‘rules’ do not exist. There is no hard-and-fast percentage rule that either of you should receive in a divorce. Instead, things to consider when deciding whether one person or the other should receive more than 50% include:
- The length of your marriage;
- The ages of you and your ex;
- The needs and wellbeing of any children;
- The value of the matrimonial assets;
The aim in splitting matrimonial assets is to meet the needs of you, your ex, and your children - those needs being housing, and income (present and future).
For example, if you have a lower-paying job than your ex (perhaps because you have been the one to raise your family), and can’t borrow as much money as they could, you might expect to receive more than 50% to make up for that difference. That’s because your ex could more easily borrow a mortgage to buy a house, whereas you would need a larger deposit or to keep your family home because you couldn’t afford such a large mortgage.
On the other hand, if your spouse doesn’t have a pension but you do, they might expect to receive a bit more of the matrimonial assets overall.
What assets can’t be split in a divorce?
When we talk about ‘splitting’ assets or dividing them, there are obviously things that can be easily split:
- Money in the bank can be split and transferred between your bank account and your ex-partner’s account.
- Personal belongings such as clothing is usually kept by whoever owns it, as neither of you is likely to want to wear the other’s clothes, and the second-hand value of even designer wear is unlikely to be worth more than the cost of replacing them.
- If you both own a car and those cars meet your needs, you could keep one each.
Then there are assets that can’t be physically split, such as the furniture. There are tales of enraged spouses taking a chainsaw to the sofa to divide everything ‘50/50’ but obviously this is not appropriate or fair (and would lead a court to give more of the surviving assets to the other spouse). So what do you do with the furniture? What if you only own one car and both need one after the divorce?
As a general rule, if one of you is getting more of those tricky assets that can’t be divided (and aren’t worth selling to divide the proceeds of sale), the other of you should get a bit more of the other assets to compensate them for that. For instance, let’s say you keep the car, because you need it to get to work whereas your ex would only use it for leisure. The car might be worth £5000 second hand; your ex might reasonably expect to get the equivalent of £2500 (if things were being split 50/50) from other assets, such as your savings or a slightly larger share of the house value.
As for the furniture - let’s say you’re going to stay in the house with your children, at least for now because it’s local to their school. Normally, a court would consider that the furniture should stay with you too, because you need it and will use it. Sofas, white goods, beds etc. aren’t worth much to sell second hand, so even if you sold everything in your house and split the proceeds 50/50, there may well not be enough money to make sure you both had enough basic furniture.
If there are duplicate items, such as two sofas, a spare bed, an extra wardrobe, it would be reasonable and fair for your ex to take them if they have room.
However, your ex might be staying with your parents, or in rented, furnished accommodation for a while, and doesn’t have room for the spare sofa etc. They will eventually need furniture, so your ex could take a larger share of the savings or of the house value, or they could take the spare furniture and store it for a few weeks or months in a self storage unit.
What will happen to the house in a divorce?
The house is a physical object that can’t be physically split, but its ownership can be changed. When thinking about what should happen to the house during your divorce, the market value is what’s important. How much is it worth? How much mortgage is there? If it were sold, would there be enough money for both of you to buy a house (with or without another mortgage)? Do the children need to stay in the house until they leave education?
There are lots of things to consider, but there are three main ways of splitting a house:
- Sell it and split the proceeds of sale 50/50 or 70/30 or however you or the court decide.
- Transfer it into your name and give your ex more of the other assets (e.g. savings), or take on a larger mortgage to ‘buy them out’.
- One of you moves out, and the other stays in the house for a set time (e.g. until the children leave education) and then sell it or buy your ex out. This is relatively rare in cases where there is a mortgage on the property, because it means that your ex would be tied to a mortgage for a long time, and unable to take out another mortgage to buy another house.
What about things I owned before the marriage?
Usually, a court would consider everything you both own, whether they’re owned in your name or your ex’s name, and whenever they were acquired.
There are exceptions to this - if, for instance, there are enough assets built up during the marriage to meet the needs of you, your ex and any children you have together, a court might say that things you owned separately before your marriage can’t be split.
So if, say, you owned a business or had a large inheritance before you married your spouse, a judge might decide that you can keep all of that if the value of things like your house, pensions and savings can meet the needs of you, your ex and any children you have together. As a rule of thumb, the longer your marriage, the less likely you are to be able to keep things you owned separately before you got married.
Should I get a prenup next time?
Getting through one divorce is tough enough, so as unromantic as it may be to do so, it would be a good idea to seek legal advice before committing to marriage in the future.
Prenuptial agreements in the UK are now legally binding as long as you’ve both had access to independent legal advice, and as long as your financial circumstances haven’t significantly changed since entering into that agreement.
Can self storage help in a divorce?
Divorce is a really unsettling time, full of uncertainty and stress. If you’ve had to move out of your family home as part of a separation, you might not have space to keep all your personal possessions or your share of the furniture. Using a self storage unit for a few weeks or months until you’re set up in your new home could make you feel a little less ‘at sea’; knowing your belongings are safe and aren’t going anywhere can be reassuring. It can also save you a lot of money if you would otherwise have to furnish a new home from scratch.
If you would like to know more about the costs of self storage in your area, please get in touch and one of our helpful team can give you all the information you need.
*For conciseness, in this article we shall refer to ‘marriage’ but the same applies to legal civil partnerships. If you were not married or in a civil partnership but merely lived with your partner, you can usually expect to walk away from your relationship with whatever you own in your name, or split the value of shared belongings 50/50.
Frequently asked questions
Does my ex-partner automatically get half of everything in a UK divorce?
No. There is no automatic 50/50 split in UK divorce law. While a 50/50 division can be used as a starting point, courts focus on achieving a fair outcome based on factors such as the length of the marriage, the needs of any children, income and earning capacity, and future housing requirements.
What are matrimonial assets in a UK divorce?
Matrimonial assets include property, savings, furniture, and other belongings acquired by either spouse during the marriage, regardless of whose name they are in. These assets are generally considered shared and may be divided as part of a financial settlement.
Can I keep assets I owned before getting married?
Pre-marital assets may be protected if there are sufficient matrimonial assets to meet both parties’ needs. However, the longer the marriage, the more likely it is that all assets will be considered when deciding what is fair.
Is inheritance protected from division in a divorce?
Inheritance received before or during a marriage may be excluded from division if there are enough other assets to meet both parties’ needs. Courts will often consider whether the inheritance was kept separate or used for family purposes.
What happens to the family home in a divorce?
The family home may be sold and the proceeds divided, transferred to one spouse who buys out the other, or retained by one party for a period of time, often until children finish education, before being sold or transferred.
Can furniture and household items be physically split in a divorce?
Items that cannot be physically divided are usually allocated based on need and fairness. If one person keeps more furniture or household belongings, the other may receive a greater share of other assets, such as savings or property value.
Are prenuptial agreements legally binding in the UK?
Prenuptial agreements can be legally binding in the UK if they were entered into freely, both parties received independent legal advice, and circumstances have not significantly changed since the agreement was made.
How can self storage help during a divorce?
Self storage can provide temporary space for furniture and personal belongings if you have moved out of the family home but do not yet have room in new accommodation. This can help protect your belongings and avoid the cost of replacing items unnecessarily.
