Planning a divorce but unusual financial situation!

code-a-holic

Im hoping someone has come accross this situation before!
My friend is planning on divorcing her husband asap, they have 2 children. But their financial/living setup is unusual and we are trying to work out what she would be entitled to.

She does not work. Husband works on his parents farm 7 days a week, 5am - 9pm or later this time of year, not taken a day off in years (huge reason for divorce wanted!) BUT income is just £500 a month in to the joint bank account.
He has a equal share on the farm estate, his share is over half a million. The farm estate owns the house the family live in, the farm estate also pays the electric, oil, telephone, council tax - every bill going. If she wants a new tv, the farm foots the bill! Its a cushty life, she hasnt had to pay for a thing other than food and clothes during the 7 years of marriage.
SO for CSA, could they take in to account the share and the fact he gets £500 cash a month is in reality not what he has access to, its actually a bottomless pit!
We assume she would not have any right to the family home as it is belongs to the farm estate. Even her car has been paid for by the farm and is not in her name, we would hope they would agree to it being changed to her name without fuss!
During the divorce would she be entitled to a part of his share of the farm? She has become accustomed to this financial security for 7 years and its daunting going alone in the real world. She moved from her parents home to this set up so at the age of 40 has never had to deal with bills and utilities.

Any help or stories of simmilar situations greatly appreciated!

RAS

Hi

She definitely needs to see a solicitor as there are a number of complications here.

And I am not the least bit sure about the tax situation regarding the innumerable benefits that they have been receiving.

If it is a small town, she might want to visit a solicitor who has a rural practice elsewhere.

lynnemcf

I am very sorry that your friends marriage is ending, but why should she be entitled to anything, since as you say she has not worked since they married. The children should be cared for, but she should get a job and support herself.

xmaslolly76

Ouch Lynne thats a bit cynical what about all the years she has put in looking after the children and running the home does she not deserve recognition for this? If it was not for her efforts with the children her husband would not have been able to go out to work everyday to build the farm up that now supports them all.

choccybuttons

Hi

I married into a farming family and its def not a bottomless pit and they work v long hours for the money. Everything goes through the books for tax reasons as vat can be claimed back making things alot cheaper. Although the millions are impressive they are tied up in land, animals and equipment and not liquid assets. Since they lived on the farm that would have saved them a fortune as no mortgage or rent and rest bills prob came to around £500, so in reality her husbands wages may only be around £1000 a month. I think your friend should get legal advice perhaps with correspondence to your address as its going to be complicated. Personally I would never go after a share in the farm as its not my business and has been in husbands family for generations and would make divorce proceedings very acrimonious. There may just not be the money there for her to have.

whitfreak

I find it strange that a farmers wife doesnt seem to get involved in the running of the farm. But I'm making alot of assumptions there.

As to what her husbands assets are it depends on how the farm is set up. He could own specific fields or he could own a share in a holding company. One is easier to value than the other. But both are pretty difficuilt to sell. (Atleast for a good price)

Also bear in mind that if everything has been running through the business I hope they have a very good accountant as rules on taxing benefits in kind and whats allowed as business expenses are complecated. But thats beside the point.

DaisyFlower

choccybuttons wrote: »

Hi

I married into a farming family and its def not a bottomless pit and they work v long hours for the money. Everything goes through the books for tax reasons as vat can be claimed back making things alot cheaper. Although the millions are impressive they are tied up in land, animals and equipment and not liquid assets. Since they lived on the farm that would have saved them a fortune as no mortgage or rent and rest bills prob came to around £500, so in reality her husbands wages may only be around £1000 a month. I think your friend should get legal advice perhaps with correspondence to your address as its going to be complicated. Personally I would never go after a share in the farm as its not my business and has been in husbands family for generations and would make divorce proceedings very acrimonious. There may just not be the money there for her to have.

I agree, its wrong to try and get a share of the farm that has been in the husbands family for years. I agree she should get child support but she needs to be realistic and expect to find a job.

From the OP it sounds like the wife does nothing on the farm which sounds strange yet is quite happy to try and get her hands on the assets. Hopefully it will be protected by the farm estate.

yoni_one

Tell your friend to contact Rights of Women (ROW) for free legal advice to her entitlement.

Their contact number and website link are in my signature.

Oldernotwiser

yoni_one wrote: »

Tell your friend to contact Rights of Women (ROW) for free legal advice to her entitlement.

Their contact number and website link are in my signature.

Did I miss the bit about domestic abuse in this situation?

Aeshna

I can't add anything at all to help the OP, but just wanted to mention in reply to Oldernotwiser, that I believe ROW provide free legal advice to all women, regardless of circumstances, not just those experiencing domestic abuse. That said, I suspect that the OP's friends' situation will be above their experience as she'll likely need advice from someone with expertise in that particular area due to the complications involved.

Aeshna x

KellyWelly

I'm all for women getting what they are entitled to and for fathers supporting their children, but something about this seems really off - has she never worked and has she never supported herself? Did she really get married at 33 years of age and move into her husband's family's property and sit around all day as a kept woman after being supported by her mother and father her whole adult life?

I've never known a farming family where the wife didn't work on the farm as well, how on earth did that work? It sounds like her husband has worked his backside off doing very very long hours while she reaped the enourmous benefits and now she's had a gutsful of him working hard she's off and trying to take his family's accumulated wealth with her that she has contributed nothing to.

I fully support women that stay at home to raise children and sacrifice their own career so that their husbands can mantain theirs and their children have the best start - but it sounds like she didn't have a career to start with and if they've only been married for 7 years she likely hasn't been out of work as a SAHM for very long at all anyway.

Like I say, it goes against what my normal instinct is but I don't feel like this all adds up tbh.