What % would I be entitled to after a short marriage?

[Llush]

I have been married for under 2 years but was in a relationship the 2 years prior, so 3.5 years altogether.

I have 2 children, aged 6 & 8, but no joint children. I am a full time stay at home mother and am dependent on his salary. His family pay the school fees.

We live in his house, but it's is held in family trust.

It is - people are very wrong and ill informed on here. There is no time limit for entitlement to a financial settlement and there are many instances of very generous awards to spouses in short marriages.

I was looking after him, doing the housework, making sure he had everthing.

I would assume nothing but it’s an unusual situation with the grandparents paying school fees and it being a short marriage. Whose idea was it to married/want a divorce (not that it really makes much difference).

And when other people with step-kids break up, does the trust keep paying the fees? I can’t imagine why.

You’ve asked what is a legal question. Morally though, why would you think you have a right to take things you didn’t earn? Most SAHM/married people are talking about joint children where the mum is taking a hit do the dad supports everyone. In this case you’ve been supplied free housing, free schooling, free everything, for your children. And now you want what? Some of his house? Alimony? No.

Unless he’s abusive, then maybe morally it’s a little bit different.

They’re not his kids, and you moved into his families home that’s in a trust.

You’re probably walking away with nothing.

You’ve been extremely lucky to be able to remain a stay at home mum and have your children’s school fees paid for by a man who isn’t the father of these kids.

You’re not owed anything here morally, Time for you to get back to work.

🤣🤣🤣. What? Like his packed lunch! You should probably start looking for a job.

OK, but he paid for you and your dc's living costs for the same period. You definitely got the better end of the bargain, I'm pretty sure he could have employed a PT cook/housekeeper for less than the cost of supporting 3 extra people and paying 2 sets of private school fees!

And you think you deserve to be paid back for all of that? You've had more than enough compensation already. Poor man.

And in return he paid all your bills, your children’s school fees and presumably kept you in quite a nice standard of living.
Time to stand on your own feet again just as

you did 3.5 years ago, this isn’t a long relationship let alone marriage 🙄

That’s not how the family court reasons. There is no discrimination between breadwinners and homemakers.
Any matrimonial property is likely to be shared.
The court will consider the parties’ needs.
The first consideration is the welfare of any minor children of the family. Children of the family include step children who have lived with the couple.

Married for less than 2 years and you are asking what % you'll receive wowzers! What did you bring to the marriage in terms of assets? I'd expect whatever you brought to the marriage to be safe and the same for your husband. I'm not sure why you think you'd be entitled to his assets? Chosing not to work when you have school aged children from a previous marriage is a choice, it's not up to the man you've been married to for 20min to continue to fund your lifestyle.

If the wealth is held by the grandparents then surely it’s not up for grabs in a divorce?

If he’s desperate for you to move out because there’s someone else or something then you’re in a stronger position than if it’s mutual or you want to leave quickly. Work out the minimum that you want (school fees, moving costs maybe car and deposit plus 6 months rent?) and start looking for work plus putting in an application for state school once you secure a new address.

At 6 and 8 you’re not a stay at home mum. You’re unemployed. So taking care of the house is the least you should be doing. That doesn’t entitle you to school fees for his step children for the rest of their lives or rights to the house.

CFery at its finest.

There isn’t any matrimonial property because the house is in a family trust. Do you think a Court will award alimony? Because I don’t.

None of these are legally relevant I'm afraid.

Start looking for a job as soon as possible so you have something to fall back on and start looking for a house.

If his family is wealthy enough to setup trust funds they will have funds for legal representation. They sound like they're not inexperienced in getting legal support so you'll need to get your own lawyer that you'll need to pay for.

This is not even a thing 🤣🤣🤣

Actually hope the DM picks this one up, so his family are aware and get all their ducks in a row (if they haven’t already)

It might not be how a court would reason, but morally, the OP is entitled to nothing in my view.

And tbh, I would be very surprised if a court found that there was a financial responsibility towards stepchildren after such a short marriage. If that is the case, I think the law needs to change...otherwise it might as well be a gold diggers charter.

I'm interested in what you received from your first DH or 2nd DH or DPartners plus why you are divorcing ?

I agree.
Tbh it sounds like the grandparents have retained control of the wealth. The house in trust, they are paying the school fees. Extremely sensible of them based on this thread.

Maybe they saw the OP coming!

Looking after him how? He's an adult not a child that needs to be looked after.

That’s what some law reformers have described it as, yes 😂. But I’m not lying. This is a case from the highest court in this country:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_v_Miller

Obviously it will depend on what the assets actually are but with the mention of trusts and school fees, I get the sense this is a high net worth family and the husband may have considerable wealth even if some of it is tied up in family trusts. OP needs legal advice but generally if you marry someone rich, you will get something even if the marriage was short. Moral or not.

Come on then - what's the excuse for not working?

Not very much you will have to get a job. Short marriage and he doesn't own a house.