Divorce After 1 year...

[ThatLoyalLion]

I need some advice please.

I have been with my husband for 6 years, married for coming up to 1.
The relationship has taken a turn for the worst due to addictive habits of his, and I am looking into divorce options.

I am pregnant (due Sept 2024), but our financial circumstances are slightly different to the usual, and I am worried I would lose everything I have built for the sake of 12 months marriage...
Examples:

• I earn over 6 figures & have worked hard to build my career, he is self employed and plods on putting through £12k per year to HMRC
• I have a pension pot built from when I started working 15 years ago which I pay into month, he has chosen not to have a pension pot
• I have a large number of shares built up (many before marriage, some have vested during the marriage also), he has no investments
• I purchased our (now marital) home 4 years before we married with my own savings & in my sole name. This would be the home I would bring our child up in
• I also have a business (started 4 years before we married) where I own a rental property through this business
• I have a large pot of savings (which I use for both of us), but he has p*ssed all his money up the wall and has no savings at all

My point is, although I understand 50/50 and fair share and would agree that with the marital home (even though I put down a large chunky deposit), we have both had opportunities to build a financial pot outside of this & protect our futures (shares/pensions/investments/savings). But he has chosen not to do that and I have, and I am concerned he would now walk away with a large chunk of what I have worked for.

Any thoughts on this?

Other things to consider:

• New baby would live with me
• We would only have been married for 1 year
• I would be looking to stay in the home & take on the bills, he couldn't afford this

I think a year long marriage is not enough for him to have a large claim on your assets. You need to take some really good legal advice.

You absolutely need to see a very good divorce lawyer and have all your details at hand when you do so. I'd take all advice you receive on here with a huge punch of salt.

You state you have been with your husband for 6 years. Prior to the marriage, we're you cohabiting as a couple. If you were, I believe this is taken into account on top of the actual 1 year of marriage

If it "moves seamlessly" into the marriage, cohabitation counts towards the length of the relationship so you are nudging into a medium length marriage.
The starting point is that the "marital acquest" is divided equally (this is now also the case for short marriages - a few years ago after a short marriage you'd usually expect to be put back to the position you were in pre-marriage). The acquest will be the value of any new assets and the value by which pre-existing assets have increased.
I say starting point because other factors (eg a child) have to be considered.
Pre-marriage/relationship pension will usually be ringfenced.

Every case is highly fact specific so this is generic advice and is likely to change according to the specific facts. Here the most significant factor is that he will also need to house your DC after (s)he is born when they stay with him.

Seven years is not a medium length relationship!

Divorce is so specific so each persons specific history and how amicable (or not) things may be

To be honest in your situation there is no way in hell I'd have married him you've put yourself in a hugely vulnerable financial position but what's done is done

The 5 years prior to marriage will be counted - everything accrued during that time will be up for negotiation and division

When you say 6 figures how high? Spousal maintenance could be in play here perhaps?

I was the much higher earner in my marriage although 3x to what could be your 10x - and was married 10 years together 20 - I was fortunate that I got him signed into a financial consent order very quickly when he was seemingly feeling the guilt and embarrassment and shame of what he had done and he decided not to get a solicitor and I have walked away with all my pensions and 70/30 in my favour on the house. I know for a fact - as he's said as much - 18 months on he would never have agreed to such a split and would have taken me to court to fight for more

I've been a divorce lawyer for 30 years but okay

I got divorced after a very short marriage, I owned the house and had public service pension. He was abusive with substance use, I kept everything,, so hopefully similar to you, never did get any maintenance, he had no contact with dc for a couple of years then minimal. Good luck, and better to get divorced after 1 year than 10

Given how one would hope to have a marriage of fifty years obviously medium is around 25.