Expert Witness Services: Banking, Matrimonial Earning Capacity
Context
A leading UK divorce law firm instructed Novo on behalf of the husband in financial remedy proceedings. The wife had held a senior position in banking before being made redundant.
A central question was whether she could realistically return to work, what she could expect to earn and what that would mean for her future financial independence.
Sector Complexity
Banking and financial services offer a wide range of specialist, commercial and management roles. Recruitment conditions, regulatory requirements, changing technology and strong competition all affect how easily someone can secure comparable employment.
Assessing earning capacity after redundancy means looking past historic job titles and pay. It needs a view of transferable skills, the opportunities open today, the right level of seniority and how long a search is likely to take.
Brief
Provide an independent expert assessment of the wife’s employment prospects and future earning capacity, covering suitable positions, realistic remuneration and how long it might reasonably take to secure work.
Approach
Novo assessed her banking experience, professional qualifications, career history and transferable skills.
The assessment looked at relevant opportunities in banking, financial services and related commercial sectors, alongside published remuneration benchmarks and current recruitment market conditions. It also considered how many suitable roles were available, how competitive the market was and whether alternative positions could credibly rebuild her earning capacity.
Outputs
The report set out:
- The types and seniority of roles realistically available
- Indicative remuneration for suitable positions
- Current opportunities and recruitment market conditions
- Likely timescales for obtaining employment
- Potential barriers to securing a comparable position
- Opportunities to rebuild earning capacity over time
Outcome
Novo’s independent assessment gave the husband’s legal advisers an evidence-based view of the wife’s employment prospects and potential earnings.
The findings helped establish her realistic earning capacity within the proceedings, separating achievable opportunities from assumptions based only on her past salary and seniority.
Find out more about our earning capacity assessments for divorce and financial remedy proceedings.
