financial settlement to go to court, advice required

mrelephant_2

has anybodys marraige been ended because of gambling?

My marraige was ended just over 12mths ago because of my gambling habits, the divorce was finalised last July but the financial settlement has yet not been.

My solicitor has advised we take the settlement before the courts, my gambling habit got me into @£50k of debt and subsidentlly my former wife filed for divorce which i agreed to.

However the financial settlement cannot be agreed, the house was in her name but we lived in the property for 8.5yrs which i contributed to half the mortgage and the property (which she still lives in with her 2 teenage childrenof 18 & 16) has @ 170k equity in it. Of which my solicitor believes i have strong grounds to claim for a minimum of one third.

What i would like to know is will the courts look unfavourablly on the fact i have got into such huge debt gambling or will they just be interested on reaching a settlement of the equity purely on a reasonable division of the money and not the contributary factors of the divorce?

Or am i about to be interogated and penalised for the gambling and come away with nothing?

is there anyone out there who mayhave been in a similar situation who could tell me their experience of this situation.

filigree_2

I think your gambling debts will have an influence on the outcome, but not just because the court would deem you to be "to blame" for the divorce.

When the finances are considered you and your wife have to provide details of ALL your assets and ALL debts. The equity is probably your biggest asset but your savings and pensions (if any) will be taken into account. So, your debts and the reason for them will be examined by the court.

If you can't control your compulsion to gamble, then what will you do with any cash you get from the house? If you're determined to pay off your debts that's one thing. If you're just going to spend it all in the bookies, then your ex-wife might as well have the lot. Sorry to be blunt, but your ex will probably use that argument to limit how much you get from the finances.

mrelephant_2

Filigree......That is what i was fearing, my intention is to pay of as much as i can of my debts with any settlement, even if this means handing over the settlement to my solicitor to hold onto whilst i agree f&f agreements with my creditors.

Would a solicitor do this for me and if so would the courts then look on this more favourably?