Financial settlement

Misteek

Hi 

A friend of mine got married about 7 years ago. But her partner left her within 2 months , so they didnt hardly stay together for more than 2 months. No idea where he is now.

Their going through divorce procedures now.

Can he claim her house etc in a financial settlement?  She only has a house really. Nothing else.

He has nothing to his name.

Thanks for any info

Voyager2002

Misteek said:

Hi 

A friend of mine got married about 7 years ago. But her partner left her within 2 months , so they didnt hardly stay together for more than 2 months. No idea where he is now.

Their going through divorce procedures now.

Can he claim her house etc in a financial settlement?  She only has a house really. Nothing else.

He has nothing to his name.

Thanks for any info

Almost certainly not.

A divorce court would treat this as a short marriage, and the objective of the financial settlement would be to leave each of the parties in the same financial state that they were in before marriage.

Incidentally, the divorce process will require him to receive court papers: if she really cannot trace him then she should seek advice about how to handle this (perhaps by placing a notice in The Gazette?).

Misteek

Voyager2002 said:

Misteek said:

Hi 

A friend of mine got married about 7 years ago. But her partner left her within 2 months , so they didnt hardly stay together for more than 2 months. No idea where he is now.

Their going through divorce procedures now.

Can he claim her house etc in a financial settlement?  She only has a house really. Nothing else.

He has nothing to his name.

Thanks for any info

Almost certainly not.

A divorce court would treat this as a short marriage, and the objective of the financial settlement would be to leave each of the parties in the same financial state that they were in before marriage.

Incidentally, the divorce process will require him to receive court papers: if she really cannot trace him then she should seek advice about how to handle this (perhaps by placing a notice in The Gazette?).

Oh really? Technically he is married to her for 7 years. But they separated within 2 months (not divorced) what's the  minimum time length of a short marriage? Ie how long they should have been living together ?

He has kept his address hidden. As he's living in a hostel. Basically my friend married a man that she met kn a holiday in the Maldives. He came here and then claimed DV and has been in hostels ever since.

Misteek

Anyone ???

elsien

There’s no formal definition of a short marriage but certainly longer than 2 months! Google would suggest anything under five years is likely to be a short marriage

VyEu

Did they live together immediately before the marriage itself? If yes that will count towards marriage length.
If it really is 2 months it's incredibly short and if there was no other mixing of assets etc aside from living together in the house and the house itself is modest, then I struggle to see how the court would see how him walking away with half is fair in all the circumstances