Divorce and finances

[DooWhop]

Hi all

My brother is heading for divorce and has considerable savings with his wife that are mostly his contributions- however ALL of their accounts are solely in her name. Yes. I know.
We’ve tried to search online but can’t find a definitive answer as to where he stands.
He wants to be fair as things have just fallen apart but feels she won’t be if given the opportunity
Thanks for any advice

Hi DooWhop, and sorry for your brothers situation.
When I got divorced, all the assets, irrespective of whose name they were in, were split 50:50 and that even included some of my then husbands potential pension.
If in doubt, esp if there is large amount of money/assets involved, hire a solicitor.

Thank you he’s looking to see a solicitor but he’s self employed and struggling to get a mutually suitable time. I said I felt that was the case but advised him to try and get information on balances of accounts NOW so she doesn’t start shifting money.
Many thanks!

To OP

Assets accrued during the marriage will be considered jointly owned regardless of who paid what and in whose name.

House was in my name, but as bought after marriage it was jointly owned in the courts eyes.

Hi OP, finances in divorce are split taking many things into consideration - length of Marriage (10+ years means there is a 50/50 starting point of all assets with adjustment from there, shorter length marriage things can be more skewed towards who brought what assets in), children of the marriage, reasonable needs of both parties, earning capacity etc.

Have a look at the Matrimonial Causes Act section 25. There’s also a lot of info if you sign up to wikivorce.

Example - very basically I was married over 20 years, all my assets were inherited or brought in, including paying for 90% of the Matrimonial home (using inheritance to pay off the mortgage). On divorce my ex kept all his pension and I kept all my assets, plus about 56% of the house proceeds. This ensured we could both buy houses and continue our lives. If I had been married less than 10 years, in this scenario I would have been able to retain more of my assets.

It’s worth learning as much as possible before seeing a solicitor. As far as shifting money goes, if Form E is filled in, this includes producing statements for all accounts and investments for the preceding 12 months.

Lots of great advice there. Thanks so much.

Married almost 5 years. No children. He has a property from before marriage. Savings as above. He has a massive pension too as earns well but as short marriage (he’s 49, she’s 50s) he’s got to look into that too.

My turn next

Well for a short marriage he's got a good argument for assets accrued beforehand to be kept out of the pot - though I might have seen something about if you've lived with someone for a long time before getting married being taken into account?? No kids make things simpler.

Just to say - I'm no expert, just been through it and due to a lot of time wasting by ex and sols I learnt a lot and with support ended up taking him to court - done and dusted in no time! That said, all our situations are very different.

Good luck OP!

If they were living together before Marriage then it may not be a short marriage - and 5 years is not short especially (1 or 2 clearly is, 5 would be more open to interpretation).
But your brother won't get getting everything or losing everything.

I wonder why all this money “he made” is in her name?? Tax dodge?

I wonder why all this money “he made” is in her name?? Tax dodge?

Well he is self employed

I had all the savings in my name. Stbxh is a high earner , me not so much. Not really trying to keep it away from taxman or owt but more that he just wanted me to sort it and have nothing to do with it making it my fault when things went wrong. Caused significant issues when he wanted me to sort new double glazing but didn't want more involvement than just sort it as many companies insisted you are both there. But it was just my fault... Hey ho ..