We are frequently contacted by clients who have worked in Offshore industries for many years, requiring them to spend long periods away from home. This often means that their spouse stayed at home to look after the children.
Many offshore workers have been working in the same industry for decades and are sometimes not able to work such long hours as they did when they were younger. This is, after all, gruelling work. Additionally, hours are being cut and redundancies are being made as the oil industry declines. This can mean family income reduction.
The following is a typical divorce case that we have dealt with on behalf of an offshore worker;
Our client’s wife wished to continue staying at home to look after the children, who were now teenagers. She also wished to retain the family home, which still had a mortgage. An Order of this nature would have meant that our client was unable to provide housing for himself, meaning his contact with the children would be affected. He was also entitled to a roof over his head. There was a lot of debt to be repaid, in part due to the breakdown of the marriage, and partly due to the decrease in our client’s salary.
The Court ultimately made an Order for Tapered Maintenance Relief, giving the wife a set period to undertake training and return to the workforce. The courts are now unlikely to order long-term maintenance for a non-working spouse who has several working years left.
The wife was further required to claim all relevant benefits she was entitled, as she was duty bound to mitigate her loss. An Order for the sale of the matrimonial home was also made, giving both parties suitable provision to purchase a new property to meet both their needs and those of the children.