Anyone with legal knowledge?

Tancred

rpc wrote: »

The sharing of assets that come with marriage is easily avoided - don't get married. Marriage is a legal and financial partnership (forget all that romance nonsense). If you don't want to be partnered in that way, don't sign...

I'm well aware of that, but marriage is also still a social expectation. A lot of women won't consider any serious long term relationship unless marriage is the consequence. The issue I have is that divorce severely damages the richest partner (not necessarily always the man), who has the most to lose. The mega rich can afford to pay millions for the simple reason that they still have tens or hundreds of millions left over, but a moderately successful person can be ruined by a ruthless partner.

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, a moderately successful person can be made to share. In most cases it's certainly not ruinous. Still, the simple answer is that once a couple marry they are agreeing that any assets achieved while married become the assets of the marriage. Seems perfectly reasonable to me, but then I'm not married and not likely to be.

rpc

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Still, the simple answer is that once a couple marry they are agreeing that any assets achieved while married become the assets of the marriage.

Seems kind of obvious - "all that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you"

Unless you use the same definition of "share" that my three year old does...

GobbledyGook

Tancred wrote: »

I am well aware of the law, but my issue is that it should reflect the reality of relationships. I am not currently convinced that it does so. Therefore if two people of different economic circumstances get married, then one ends up being a big loser if the other wants a divorce. I think this is lunacy. It's an encouragement for less successful people to pilfer the pockets of those who have achieved more, for no other reason than the fact they have been married. Hardly an encouragement to save for a pension!

My advice to all successful people would be to talk to a Swiss banker before getting married!

And what about the partner at home who sacrificed their chance to achieve more to allow them to succeed? The one who moved from pillar to post when the achiever wanted or needed to move? The one who had the food on the table when they came home from their 14 hour day? The one who kept them in clean shirts and made sure the car insurance was sorted. Not to mention the one who is available when the school phones to say the child is sick or when one of the kids needs to go to the dentist or whatever.

Why should they end up with nothing for their sacrifice when the achiever decides to end the marriage?