Legal Advice for Divorce Financial Order

[MinisterForMagic]

Please can I get some advice? This is NOT me, but B is someone I know very well and love dearly. She is in a state and her solicitor seems uninterested. I need advice for England & Wales as opposed to somewhere else in the world!

Man A marries woman B. B has a 10 year old child, C. A starts to groom C and continues to abuse C until C is an adult and leaves home.

The abuse comes out and A is sent to prison as a paedophile for 20 years (likely to be out circa 2027). B is also consider to be a victim (grooming and coercive control) and both B and C have court orders where A will not be allowed to go near B or C when he gets out of prison.

B tries to get a divorce from A but is told that the equity in her house (HER house, it was never in joint names), and her savings and her pension must all be split 50/50 with A. Even though A clearly only married B to gain access to C.

A was also a spendthrift, and bankrupt. He burned through an inheritance of £30,000 B received in less than 18 months. At the point A went to prison, he had coerced B into taking out a vehicle loan of £8,000 in B's name.

Does B have any rights at all? Or must she be prepared to give money to the man who ruined her life and her child?

Well I guess the principle is right starting at 50/50. When people divorce, the reasons are not usually considered, although in this case he has minimal needs!

She will really have to get legal advice. Although there are qualified matrimonial lawyers on here, she needs bespoke advice

S.25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act sets out the factors a Court has to consider when splitting assets. One of them is “conduct which it would be inequitable to ignore”. Case law has built up to interpret this to mean conduct that would make a person “gasp” if they heard about it. Infidelity, even many sorts of DA are not considered sufficient. But what you describe would almost certainly qualify.

Also, the Court has to consider needs of the parties. Your friends husband won’t have unmet needs until he leaves prison. There will come a point where he has them though.

Contribution is a further factor. If the house belonged to your friend prior to the marriage this is a powerful factor in her favour.

I can’t say that your friends husband will be left with nothing. That is probably unlikely. But there seem to be plenty of factors that would justify a significant departure from 50/50.

Additionally, the facts might entitle your friend to legal aid; which has pretty much died out for money matters, save where there is documented abuse.

Do tell her to seek clarification of the legal advice she has been given.

@Familylawsolicitor

I’d suggest she gets some other advice. It’s certainly not as straightforward as an equal split although that’s the starting point. In this case I’d look at his conduct and his needs given that he’s housed in the prison estate until 2027. Whereabouts in the country is she, and I may be able to give a recommendation.

Thank you, she is in South Wales

Thank you LadyMacbeth. I understand B tried to get Legal Aid at the start but the local solicitors weren't interested/didn't return emails. A family member is prepared to cover the legal fees on the grounds that it is better to spend a few thou now to save as much as possible of B's equity in the house which is approx £65,000.