The Settlement Options and Maintenance Reports

Both examples describe the same fictional couple as the SmartJudge sample report: a 14-year relationship, two children aged 8 and 11, a family home and two pensions. Open them to see exactly what you would get.

Sample

Sample

Two settlements can split the same total in very different ways. This report shows the main ways a settlement inside your range could be arranged, using your own figures.

• Part 1The family homeWhat a sale would give each of you, what a buy-out by either of you would cost and whether the mortgage looks within reach, whether the repayment fits your budget at a typical and a higher rate, and whether each of you could buy a suitable home.
• Part 2The pensionsWhy a pension’s transfer value is not the same as cash, offsetting against other assets or sharing the pension, and when a pensions specialist is likely to be needed.
• Part 3The scenarios side by sideSeveral ways of arranging the same settlement: who has cash now, who has pension later and who has a home. Ways of arranging one settlement, not several predictions.

It works well as a starting point for a discussion, with your former partner, a mediator or a solicitor.

• Statutory formulaChild maintenanceWho pays and how much under the Child Maintenance Service formula, which you can check on gov.uk, and the limited situations in which a court can order it instead.
• IllustrativeIs there a needs gap?Each person’s income set against the monthly budget you gave, after child maintenance. The other person’s budget is your estimate.
• IllustrativeHow long, and the clean breakWhat a court looks at, such as the length of the marriage, children and age, set against your facts, and the different kinds of maintenance order.
• IllustrativeA capital sum insteadWhat a one-off sum in place of ongoing maintenance might look like, on SmartJudge’s own simplified model, not the tables a court would use. Tax is not modelled.

Courts vary widely on spousal maintenance, so the report shows the arithmetic a judge would start from, not what will be ordered.

1. 1Your answers and your range. Both reports start from the figures you entered and the range in your SmartJudge report.
2. 2Fixed rules do the arithmetic. Every figure, from the home equity to the child maintenance, is calculated by fixed rules, not by AI.No AI in the numbers
3. 3AI explains the figures. It writes the plain-English explanation around them. Any case it names must come from the same vetted list of England and Wales cases as your SmartJudge report.
4. 4Automatic checks. The explanation is checked for any amount, prediction or case the AI might add on its own before you see it.Can stop the report

Each report ends with what would sharpen it: the figures that are missing or estimated and why they matter. Fill those in and open the report again for a clearer picture.

1. 1Create your SmartJudge report. Both further reports start from its range, so they open once it exists.
2. 2Open them. From My Information, or from the links under your SmartJudge report.
3. 3Keep a copy. Download or email each report as a PDF.

• The further reports use the same answers as your SmartJudge report and are kept to the same standards.
• Children are referred to by their order and age only, never by name.
• The reports are included if you download your data, and deleted with everything else if you delete your account.

More is in why you can trust SmartJudge with your information. If you are weighing a real offer, a solicitor review or a judge or barrister’s opinion adds human judgment on top.