My DSSis has recently been in a serious car accident in which she sustained head injuries which has left her incapacitated, and likely to be severely disabled for the rest of her life, this we have been told by the doctors. We are of course still hopeful that she will make a recovery of some sort, but the outlook for her long term recovery is very poor. She currently cannot walk, talk, or feed herself. We do think she can recognise and understand us though, and we have seen some positive responses and movements.
We are, or course, exploring the options available to us for her long term care. This is not the advice sought on this post though.
She was separated from her husband, for around the last 12-18 months, and there was a reconciliation during that time but separated again. They have been married 12 years, no kids or dependents, just themselves. The separation was known to other family members, and they lived apart, although there had been no attempt to start divorce proceedings by either party. Joint bank accounts had remained active as there were continued joint expenses being paid through the account, such as a PCP payment in joint names. Day to day living expenses are/were paid individually by each person.
She does not really have any money or savings behind her, but the husband does (not rich, but has assets to value £1m we estimate). Some of his assets were accumulated before they were married, although we won’t get a straightforward or honest answer from the husband on this one as he has gone into self-protection mode. It is, and never was, in his interests to file for divorce, since financially, he will probably have to pay her some money. He stated almost immediately after the accident that he did not want to be involved in her care, nor take any responsibility for what happens to her from now on.
Whatever we do from this point forward is going to cost money, and we are exploring ways to liquidate any pensions she has for example, to help cover care and other costs.
One option is for her to file for divorce to essentially claim her share of the marital assets. I see this as a long bumpy road, not least because the husband is going to kick,scream and delay everything, but would be worth it if the payout at the end was significant enough to make a difference to the quality of her life. I know that the starting point for division of assets is 50/50.
Is it likely that she might be awarded a larger share due to medical needs and incapacity to work in the future? Is it even possible to take her through a divorce when she is so incapacitated? (Anything we do would be with her consent, we are not planning on making massive life decisions for her without her input, however limited that might be).