Is this right - friend with both parents dying receives inheritance then wife asks for a divorce weeks later?

[mids2019]

A friend has recently lost his last remaining parent and therefore received part of the estate. The fiends wife asks for a divorce and has started proceedings quickly to presumably prevent any inheritance being spent and not being a marital asset.

So you think this is fair? The marriage may have been rock(?) but it does seem from the outside as someone wishing a divorce making a careful calculation to benefit the most financially and perhaps with callous timing.

Does this happen a lot?

this accurately summarises the law.

The fiends wife asks for a divorce and has started proceedings quickly to presumably prevent any inheritance being spent and not being a marital asset.

Why is this presumed? I can think of quite a few reasons why she might have started divorce proceedings now

1. if the parent was ill and sick for a long time and she didn't want to rock the boat while her STBEX was dealing with that
2. If finances are tight making divorce really difficult but now she feels more able to move on without it negatively impacting him/her/the DC
3. His grief and mourning have been overwhelming and have led to very poor behaviour from him that she can't get past
4. This is a natural time of change so any divorce proceedings, if that was already being discussed/considered, make sense now.

Is your friend saying this divorce has come completely out of the blue? Has his wife been complaining about issues for a while but he just thought it would go away? What is going to happen with any DC?

And of course, as others have said, the moral and ethical issues are different according to variables such asl ength of relationship, age of parties involved, children, wedding etc.

Rocky marriage, but no indication of what the issues or dynamics were. Not sure why "presumably...." is the conclusion.
I would think that anyone that scheming and immoral would have ensured that the inheritance was fair game if that was the motive.
Perhaps, like a PP said, the timing was around not wanting to make sure a move whilst your friend was dealing with the death of his parent.
Perhaps she believes that receiving an inheritance will make him less likely to fight over their joint assets. I mean, for all we know, he's been a shit husband and would be inclined, like many partners on the receiving end of divorce proceedings, to drag it out over money/resist giving up anything out of spite.
This money of his makes that less likely to be tolerated.

Who knows really. You don't like her, that's ok, he's your friend. But gossiping about her motives is pointless because you really don't know the dynamics of the marriage and what went on behind closed doors.

I'd say it does happen a lot. That people make a move to get out when they can 🤷‍♀️

Another possible bullet point for the list

• she has been the one who ended up doing the bulk of the family care for the now-dead relative on his behalf, so feels as if she has fairly worked for a share of it.

It sounds cynical but I've been astounded by how opportunistic and grasping my ex has been in our divorce (and a big part of that is around (my) inheritance) v

If the wife was actually clever she would know that inheritance is not automatically split and depending on circumstances would have done better waiting. He may have paid off the mortgage, had house improvements. paid for new furniture, an amazing holiday, bought them each a new car.

I have three friends currently divorcing, two were a shock and one isn’t but overall only they know their feelings even if they try and explain.