Where to find advice to help a friend

kamperkat

We all know that the MSE forums are always the best place to come for helpful advice so I am hoping that one of you lovely people will be able to help me out.
My friends husband has recently left her, after many many years of marriage, he wants to sell the house (no mortgage) and split it 50/50 but doesn't want to involve solicitors. He owns a business and she has a part time job two days a week - one of their (two) adult kids still lives at home.
I just want to be able to help her and point her in the right direction - she is going to see a solicitor which I believe is a free half hour but I want to be support her by giving her sensible helpful advice.
She is not the sort of person to take him for all its worth - but I want to help her not get totally shafted!
If anyone can point me to previous threads that might help or tell me where to look externally for advice that would be fabulous.
Kkxx

BitterAndTwisted

Well, I'm not sure whether there's a resource or a thread which will give you better advice than a qualified professional.

Your friend should pay especial attention to assets retained as part of the business if she's a director and any pension provision although alas, he might have had sufficient time to hide the evidence by now.

gratefulforhelp_2

It sounds as though he may want to do without a solicitor to avoid the possibility of paying spousal maintenance. You are right to encourage her to take legal advice.

Plans_all_plans

She must see a solicitor. After a long marriage I believe she may be entitled to some of his pension and spousal maintenance. The reason he doesn't want to go down this route is to avoid paying anything other than half the house equity over.

Primrose

After a long marriage your friend definitely needs a solicitor to look after her interests. This is not the same as taking her ex for all she can get but ensuring that she is fairly compensated for her contribution to the marriage over many years. If she has only been working part time, she will have very little in the way of a pension in her own right, so pension splitting with her ex may also need to be taken into account.

The Ex almost certainly doesn't want to involve a solicitor because any financial settlement could well involve his wife being allocated either a share of the business, or he may have to sell it to raise sufficient money for a settlement. Your friend risks being treated very unfairly unless she has herself legally represented. She will only get one chance to get this right. She is obviously not in the first stages of youth so time may not be on her side to greatly increase her earning capacity before she retires and needs a pension, so she has to get this right, regardless of whether her husband wants to employ a solicitor or not.

gratefulforhelp_2

And in fact, he is free not to employ one...they will need separate solicitors anyway...but you can bet he will get one sharpish when she engages one!

kamperkat

Thank you all for your replies - I think without question everyone who is giving her advice has said ignore his suggestion and get a solicitor - for the very reasons you have given.
I am sure that after she has met with the solicitor she will be more aware of the importance of proper representation. Thanks, once again for your advice.
Kkxx