Divorce settlement

[madcatladyforever]

Hi all I need some advice for my sister. She has two kids, works full time , she has her own business, her house and the business is in her name only, exH has put about 50 grand into building work into it but there was never any agreement to say she's give him that money back if they divorced.
They have been married for 20 years and exH pays no maintenance and doesn't see the kids anymore - his choice.
My question is it likely she will have to give him a divorce settlement? Everything is in her name only and always has been, he has contributed very little over the years.

They've been married 20 years, yes there will be a settlement

As soon as he gets legal advice he'll be looking for half the assets, and since they were married for a long time all of the 'in her name' stuff will matter very little.

If she's looking after the children and needs assets to keep them housed, then it may not go 50/50, but could still be a VERY substantial proportion of the assets that he will be due. Sometimes that gets deferred to when kids are older, and may not mean a full payout now. But very likely will be a large payout, unless he's kept unaware of his likely 'entitlement'.

Welcome to "equality". If he sees a solicitor expect an opening bid of 50% of the assets.

Yes, there will be a settlement. Your sister needs legal advice on her position. She'll need to get valuations of the business, house etc.

The divorce settlement and child access/maintenance are different issues.

Yes, the law stinks. I don’t consider it equality for a man to leech off a woman (and not be contributing in the same way a full-time parent might) and then walk away with 50% of her assets. This needs reform. Urgently. But it has happened to me.

I'm suprised at this tbh, I thought from my own divorce that if a house is in one persons name only the other one can't get their hands on it. He pays no maintenance at all.

My own house, I had £150,000 equity before I married him and he wasn't allowed to touch that even though I eventually put the house in joint names.

Yes, he'll get a settlement,likely 50% of the assets.

How old are the kids and why isn't she chasing him for maintenance?

He's gone to europe.

So?

Assuming that this is England (or Wales) and not Scotland ...
If Scotland, then who-bought-what has a big role.
It also matters more in shorter marriages.
It also matters what other kinds of assets are available and what is needed to house each person. So, your ex-H who couldn't touch the equity, did that mean you didn't touch his pension, for example?
Overall, it's complex and lots of things get factored in. But after 20 years it's harder to make the "It's MINE!" argument stick.

Maintenance abroad -- look up REMO.