If you’re a divorcing woman who is the main breadwinner, here are 5 important reasons why you need financial advice

Even though much of the conversation around women and divorce tends to focus on those who have been financially dependent on their spouse or civil partner, higher-earning women still face many complex decisions.

According to Forbes (5 May 2025), 31% of women in the UK outearn their partners.

Despite your high income or success at work, you may still feel uncertain about how to protect your future during a divorce.

Read on to discover five important reasons you might benefit from financial advice if you’re a divorcing woman who is the main breadwinner.

1. You may underestimate how much your pension is worth

If you’ve been the higher earner during your marriage, there’s a chance you may have built up a more substantial pension than your partner.

This could potentially be one of the most valuable assets in your marriage, so it’s important to think carefully about pension sharing as part of your settlement.

Giving up a portion of your pension might feel less important than simply transferring cash, but it could significantly affect your retirement plans later in life.

I could help you understand:

• What your pension is worth today
• The income it could provide in retirement
• How a pension share might affect your long-term lifestyle
• Whether you need to increase contributions after a divorce
• How your retirement plans might change if you keep or give up other assets.

Clearly quantifying what your pension could provide in retirement might allow you to make more informed decisions before you agree to a settlement.

2. You may need to plan for ongoing maintenance obligations

If you earn significantly more than your spouse or civil partner, you might be expected to provide ongoing financial support after the divorce.

This might include spouse and child maintenance or contributions towards other specific costs.

While these may be affordable in the short term, it’s still important to understand how they could affect your wider financial plan.

For instance, regular payments could affect how much you can save and invest each month, or whether you can continue making pension contributions at the same level.

You may even find that you can no longer afford to reduce your working hours or change career, and your ability to take out a new mortgage might also be affected.

Using cashflow modelling, I could help you understand how these different arrangements might affect your finances over time.

You could then compare the effects of paying maintenance over a fixed period against making a larger upfront payment.

Seeing these options laid out in front of you may help you and your solicitor negotiate a fair settlement.

3. You may need to protect your earnings

If your income is closely linked to a business or your career, you may need to consider how a divorce could affect assets that support your future earnings. Indeed, you might need to think carefully about:

• Business valuations
• Company shares or share options
• Bonuses
• Partnerships
• Money tied up in your business.

This can be especially challenging, as these assets are often more difficult to divide or access.

While you may appear wealthier on paper due to shares or business profits, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have the funds available to pay for a settlement without affecting your long-term plans.

I would work closely with you to help you understand which of your assets are liquid and which are tied up.

This could ultimately help you avoid agreeing to a settlement that puts pressure on your business, career, or financial independence.

4. Tax and liquidity issues could reduce the value of your settlement

When you’re negotiating a divorce settlement, you may focus solely on the assets’ main values. However, two assets with the same value on paper might not offer the same benefits.

For example, £500,000 in cash functions differently from £500,000 in pension assets. They tend to have different tax implications and accessibility rules.

“Liquidity” essentially means how easily you can convert an asset into usable money. If too much of your wealth is tied up in pensions or property, for instance, you may struggle to meet more immediate costs.

Additionally, tax can affect the real-term value of your settlement, and you may need to consider:

• Capital Gains Tax when you transfer or sell assets
• Income Tax on pension withdrawals
• The timing of the disposal of assets.

Seeking professional advice before finalising a settlement could help you avoid unexpected tax bills later down the line.

5. Your decisions might be affected by lingering emotions

Even if you’re financially knowledgeable and used to making important decisions, divorce can still make it challenging to think entirely objectively.

Indeed, you may feel pressure to act fairly, avoid conflict, or finish the process as quickly as possible.

As the main breadwinner, you might also feel guilty about being in a stronger financial position than your spouse, making it tempting to agree to terms that are more generous than they are realistic.

Conversely, you might feel protective of the wealth you’ve worked so hard to accumulate and find it difficult to consider solutions that would help you achieve a settlement.

It’s vital to remember that divorce is emotional as well as financial, so I could act as an objective third party.

I can help you step back from the emotional pressures of divorce and examine what various decisions might mean for your future.

This might mean using cashflow modelling to show:

• How much you need to maintain your lifestyle
• Whether you can afford a settlement
• How different options could affect your retirement
• Whether your plans should stay the same if your income changes.

This information could allow you to make decisions based on evidence rather than emotion.