Please Divorce advice :( !!!!

Op is not automatically entitled to half

Don't forget pensions - half of that too x

How old are the kids? Will they be happy to only see their dad during holidays?

Agree with what previous poster said. He’s happy to let you walk away with nothing plus the expense of two kids and he’ll keep everything and find a younger model.

You need a solicitor. Go to women’s aid if you can’t access any money to pay for one.

You have been a bit naive yes, but you can undo that by taking the right action now.

Op is not e titled to 50%

she is entitled to

all assets held jointly or individually being I the pot for division
a fair share of that, most likely needs based, could be more or less than 50%

Get a solicitor op immediately. It's sounds like he will be happy for you to disappear with full financial responsibility for your children . A solicitor will determine what asserts he has a d what you are entitled to

You’re not taking anything from him.

you are dividing the marital wealth.

he could not have built his business if he had needed to provide childcare and domestic care. But he didn’t, because you didn’t and he agreed to that.

therefore you are entitled to 50% of everything that has been wasn’t during the marriage. Irrespective of who’s name things are in.

get a solicitor. Get as much information as you can about his business . So you have access to bank accounts or savings accounts?

you are spending 2 kids to private school and live comfortably on one wage - he his earning plenty from that business, and half of it is yours.

as well as full child maintenance if he is not interested in the children regardless of what country you live in.

how old are the kids?

you are mistaken in thinking he has to provide a home for you and the children. He does not. What is true is the needs of children take priority so assets are shared according to needs. But he is not under any legal obligation to house you if you tendon here ( or return go Italy)

cms us based on income. For self employed people it’s much easier to hide income, and he can set his wage as £12,000 and you’d receive cns on that plus dividends. Not on profits or cash retained in the business. If sole trader it’s based on net profit therefore he can keep expenses high to reduce that and also receive income in cash and not declare it

You need a good lawyer and you need to check the details of his business at companies house. Firstly he does have an asset - the shares in his successful business. Secondly it is likely that 50 percent of those shares are due to you after a long marriage with children. You can look on the website companies house for his exact company name (look at the companies website in the small print and there is usually the full company name or the company number - both can be used to look up the company details for free at companies house) and see the details of the business including the confirmation of what shares he owns on it. The challenge will be making those shares worth something which is why you need a good lawyer as there are lots of ways for him to play games depending on the nature of the business.

Child maintenance is enforceable from Italy. The bigger questions /issues are

why does he not care his child being removed from the country

if he’s self employed cms may be much harder to get

You need your own solicitors and he will have to provide his financial position and then you’ll know what you’re entitled to.
you say you have nothing but also say you love a comfortable lifestyle which doesn’t make sense to me unless I am missing something.
is he not bothered about the children leaving the country? If you move to Italy you may not be able to enforce child maintenance - is getting back on your feet here not an option if you get a decent settlement? Start looking for work now and get yourself in a better position

Do not take advice from your soon to be ex husband who is a successful business owner but claims to have nothing. Be very careful.

It dies not matter if the business is in his name. It’s a marital asset. As is any cash savings, investments, pensions held in his name alone. You must get legal advice.

You absolutely need to get legal advice - most solicitors will.offer half an hour free to get a sense of the way forward. It's your legal.advice.
He may well already have taken legal.advice x- do not rely on what he is telling you about money or the process. How it can be paid for needs to be part of the first conversation. The lawyer should give you an idea how practical it all is.

You need a lawyer for yourself. You say he has no assets but what about the house you all live in, his pension, his business - they’re all assets that would be considered in the event of a split.

If you move back to Italy do you have a decent support network there, and a way to have an income - is there a decent social safety net and would you be entitled to access that if you’ve been resident here?

Whether he’s looking forward to sharing with you or not, you’re both married so in law it’s shared anyway.

She can't afford a solicitor.
You can start the divorce by filling in the forms online. There's a site called WikiVorce with information.

Removing the kids from their entire lives to live abroad, ending their relationship with their father, seems like a bad idea.

You need to get independent legal advice as does he. Do not worry about organising this for him. Find yourself a divorce lawyer and get a consultation. Take financial information with you so they can advise you.o