Divorce across borders

olivepip

Hi
My friend is an artist who lives in France with two children from a previous marriage. She remarried 3 years ago. The marriage never really worked out her husband remained in England apart from a few visits never supporting her financially or emotionally. She has struggled but receives maintenance for the children from her first husband but just for children. She had divorced inFrance and had had enough money to buy her own home with the children, but has no other means apart from the periodic sales of her work. The current husband does not work as he is independently wealthy and has a lot of property and money in trust. She now wants a divorce but is at a loss as to what if anything she is entitled to. She particularly fears for her old age. Not living in England although having family here, she does not think she is entitled to legal aid, whilst the husband with his own property in England will not consider a French court. Besides which the divorce laws in France are very different. Any solution/advices would be very helpful

olivepip

I can see this hasn't excited much in the way of resonse but she really needs a bit of signposting - as we may know a half hour with an english solicitor will not be that helpful and most advice agencies will tend to only deal with local residents. She is absolutely stony broke. Any ideas?

RAS

Hi
it is not for her husband to consider a French court or not. It is for her to ge the divorce started in which ever jursidiction she wants. She might want to get a bit of advice from local french lawyer as to how the French law would treat her case before she dives in.

lauren_1

I think if she starts the ball rolling in a french court then he doesnt really get a say in what country the court is in?

I may be wrong.

kegg_2

I am no expert but i cant see her being entitled to much, if anything in any divorce settlement.
If they have never life together then surely there is no matrimonial home to factor into the divorce, no child support and they cant have many joint assets that will need spliting.

She should get herself some independant legal advice in france and issue her own divorce proceedings.

freyanneke_2

Good luck to your friend. Has she seen a solicitor in France yet? Broke or not, isn't there some advice available in France? If she is living near a city it might be possible to get some pointers from an solicitor's office that also is knowledgeable in international law. They might not know all the answers, but they might be able to set her in the right direction.