Divorce help!

Author
Discussion

kingswood

Original Poster:

132 posts

88 months

Friday 28th February
quotequote all
generally asking for a friend, my divorce went like clock work so can't really help beyond telling him to try reason with her.

facts: married 30 years. 2 grown up kids - 25/30. £300k house paid off. business each - £50k net profit a year. £10k car.

he left, breakdown in marriage, grown apart etc. renting £700 a month. she's in the house. since sold the car and not given him anything.

now he wants a divorce, she's saying she's signing nothing, giving him nothing etc etc. she's keeping the lot, he left etc etc. 2 kids are trying to reason with her, amicable on both sides with the kids. tbf pretty 'normal' family.

looking online, divorce is £593. he wants to split the assets 50/50, house and cash. keep a business each. she can have all the assets in the house - he'll concede that for an easy life.

but she's still been difficult.

what's his best options please?!

Abc321

681 posts

107 months

Friday 28th February
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Another advert for never getting married! The mind boggles. Giving up all that 'for an easy life'.

Nothing to offer but good luck to your friend, I hope he isn't stung too badly.

dundarach

5,568 posts

240 months

Friday 28th February
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Get some proper advice and stop being ripped off by his spouse.

Go see a divorce lawyer as soon as possible, explain everything, charge her occupational rent to sharpen her mind and pay the lawyer to sort it all out.

Otherwise, stop moaning to you, give her everything and walk away.

Alfa numeric

3,110 posts

191 months

Friday 28th February
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kingswood said:
what's his best options please?!
Get a lawyer, and be prepared to spend lots of money.

It used to be that you had to wait 5 years to obtain a divorce without consent but it looks like that this requirement was removed recently.

https://raydensolicitors.co.uk/blog/can-you-get-di...

CKY

2,144 posts

27 months

Friday 28th February
quotequote all
dundarach said:
Get some proper advice and stop being ripped off by his spouse.

Go see a divorce lawyer as soon as possible, explain everything, charge her occupational rent to sharpen her mind and pay the lawyer to sort it all out.

Otherwise, stop moaning to you, give her everything and walk away.
This - i've heard good things from a couple of people about Stowe Family Law; by all accounts they're the sort of people you want working for you rather than against you, the sort of firm i'd be engaging on my behalf were a (soon-to-be-ex) spouse being awkward.

Previous

1,530 posts

166 months

Friday 28th February
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Nothing to add other than I'd be surprised if he ends up with 50% of everything.

Time4another

355 posts

15 months

Friday 28th February
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Get a hard hat on and lawyer up. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Muzzer79

11,625 posts

199 months

Friday 28th February
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Previous said:
Nothing to add other than I'd be surprised if he ends up with 50% of everything.
Why?

Children are grown up and (presumably) have left home. If not, they're still adults.

It's all down to circumstances of course, but there's no reason on the face of this why he can't get 50%

sjc

14,641 posts

282 months

Friday 28th February
quotequote all
kingswood said:
generally asking for a friend, my divorce went like clock work so can't really help beyond telling him to try reason with her.

facts: married 30 years. 2 grown up kids - 25/30. £300k house paid off. business each - £50k net profit a year. £10k car.

he left, breakdown in marriage, grown apart etc. renting £700 a month. she's in the house. since sold the car and not given him anything.

now he wants a divorce, she's saying she's signing nothing, giving him nothing etc etc. she's keeping the lot, he left etc etc. 2 kids are trying to reason with her, amicable on both sides with the kids. tbf pretty 'normal' family.

looking online, divorce is £593. he wants to split the assets 50/50, house and cash. keep a business each. she can have all the assets in the house - he'll concede that for an easy life.

but she's still been difficult.

what's his best options please?!
A lawyer.
She can't keep everything, and the finances aren't apportioned with relevance to who did what/ who left etc.The kids are grown up and non dependent, she's just being a woman scorned.


TownIdiot

2,973 posts

11 months

Friday 28th February
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The starting point will be 50/50

She may be entitled to more but that will dependent on circumstances (eg did she give up a career and thus has reduced future earnings capability)

However if one party wants to be awkward it's just a st show.

I've got a friend going through it now and her husband is being a bit awkward so it's moving at a snail's pace even though they (in theory) agreed the finances ages ago and she agreed to less than her solicitor advised she could get.


S2r

719 posts

90 months

Friday 28th February
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Muzzer79 said:
Why?

Children are grown up and (presumably) have left home. If not, they're still adults.

It's all down to circumstances of course, but there's no reason on the face of this why he can't get 50%
Because the divorce courts are stuck in the dark ages.

My ex didn't want to work so didn't for 20 years, kid grown up, I ended up with 37% of the assets including pensions.

She kept the house (no mortgage) which amazingly went on the market a couple of weeks after the divorce was finalised at £25k more than she had had it valued at for the settlement.

Get a good solicitor involved (mine wasn't great) and hope for the best.

Jim1064

398 posts

217 months

Friday 28th February
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Having made that journey myself, the only advice I can give is to get a solicitor. It's going to cost, that's inevitable. How much, that depends how much acrimony there is...

TownIdiot

2,973 posts

11 months

Friday 28th February
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Jim1064 said:
Having made that journey myself, the only advice I can give is to get a solicitor. It's going to cost, that's inevitable. How much, that depends how much acrimony there is...
A solicitor won't make the wife come to the party and accept the situation.

Until she does, it will just be a st show.


Petrus1983

10,170 posts

174 months

Friday 28th February
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Get a solicitor. Quite a few offer 30mins free etc - get him find one he feels could properly represent him.

skyebear

776 posts

18 months

Friday 28th February
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Your friend needs to be seen to lose. Concede something the wife perceives as substantial. It'll be cheaper than paying a solicitor and the kids will inherit everything eventually.

ThingsBehindTheSun

1,728 posts

43 months

Friday 28th February
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It's reading things like this that remind me why I never got remarried after my divorce. As divorce is pretty much the worst (and most expensive) thing I ever went through, I definitely don't want to repeat the process.

My logic is you can't get divorced if you are not married, it's brilliant in it's simplicity.

Just reading the first post I can tell exactly how the next two years are going to go and it isn't going to be fun.

I am going to have my usual couple of drinks on a Friday this evening, I will be thanking my lucky stars this will never happen to me again as I enjoy them.

Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Friday 28th February 15:04

wiggy001

6,644 posts

283 months

Friday 28th February
quotequote all
First thing he should do is move back in to his home and save himself £700 a month and focus her mind a little.

Second thing is to get a solicitor and after an initial consultant ask for an estimated quote for the matter in writing. Present a copy of this quote to the ex to focus her mind a little on what she is about to spend.

Second point above is a controversial one though. If she is likely to get a rubbish solicitor then skip point 2 and see her in court.

When deciding where to spend money, spend it on a good barrister and either do the legal paperwork yourself or find a genuine McKenzie friend to assist.

My divorce and financials were tied up with child arrangements and got nasty on her part, but the financial side alone cost me over £30k to resolve and after 18 months she walked about with a whole £7k more than I offered her initially.

Good luck to your friend, life is about to get expensive.

Muzzer79

11,625 posts

199 months

Friday 28th February
quotequote all
S2r said:
Muzzer79 said:
Why?

Children are grown up and (presumably) have left home. If not, they're still adults.

It's all down to circumstances of course, but there's no reason on the face of this why he can't get 50%
Because the divorce courts are stuck in the dark ages.

My ex didn't want to work so didn't for 20 years, kid grown up, I ended up with 37% of the assets including pensions.

She kept the house (no mortgage) which amazingly went on the market a couple of weeks after the divorce was finalised at £25k more than she had had it valued at for the settlement.

Get a good solicitor involved (mine wasn't great) and hope for the best.
The part in bold is the key to getting a sensible settlement.

ThingsBehindTheSun

1,728 posts

43 months

Friday 28th February
quotequote all
wiggy001 said:
F but the financial side alone cost me over £30k to resolve and after 18 months she walked about with a whole £7k more than I offered her initially.
Sounds a bit like when my ex wife's friend got divorced, she was the high earner and paid for everything and there were no children involved.

She basically said to him to keep the car she had paid for and she would pay him half the equity in the house to walk away.

He wasn't happy with that so employed an expensive solicitor and told her he wanted half her pension and to essentially be kept in the lifestyle he had become accustomed.

When it finally went to court the judge dismissed all his claims (he was a fully able bodied guy in his late 30s) and said the only matter that needed to be discussed was the house and that the equity should be split 50/50.

He essentially got exactly what she had offered, yet he had to pay a large part of it to his solicitor. He was not happy!

I have heard of people wasting £30K just arguing over possessions, the sort of things that are essentially worthless. Don't underestimate how vindictive and petty people can be when they feel they have been wronged, any sense of logic and reasoning goes out the window.

oscmax

165 posts

139 months

Friday 28th February
quotequote all
Muzzer79 said:
Previous said:
Nothing to add other than I'd be surprised if he ends up with 50% of everything.
Why?

Children are grown up and (presumably) have left home. If not, they're still adults.

It's all down to circumstances of course, but there's no reason on the face of this why he can't get 50%
Exactly - most sensible comment on here. Impossible to say with any degree of certainty from how little we know, but it on what the OP has posted, that is a classic 50/50 situation and should be capable of being dealt with as such, whether by agreement or the courts.

OP - you/your friend need to get some advice. Many family solicitors (including good ones) offer an initial consultation free. Try a few of those and see who inspires some confidence.