Divorce and Financial Settlement

adolphin10

I am asking on behalf of my son

In March 2023 he married a Dutch national (who did not previously live in the UK) as of course it was the only way they could live together.

He bought 50% of a shared ownership house. Wife was not on the mortgage or deeds. They moved into the property in April 2023. July 2023 wife returned to the Netherlands where she had to remain until her spousal visa came through. This happened at the end of December 2023.

September 2024 she left him and lived with some local friends until Feb 2025. She has now returned to the Netherlands permanently as they have filed for divorce and her visa has been revoked.

She has now messaged saying that she wishes a financial settlement of £2500.

This in her opinion is half the visa cost and half the furnishing of the house cost (none of which she paid for)

The deposit for the house was all my sons. He also paid for all the furniture except half the bed and half the hoover. (there was an air fryer that she paid for and has taken). The payment for the visa was all her money. So I would say £10000 for the deposit that was his and £4500 for the Visa which was hers.

She lived in the house for a total of 11 months. In this time she paid a grand total of £800 towards any bills (including food) Of this £800 my son gave her back £400 when she left so she paid £400 living costs over 11 months.

Should he agree to pay £2.5k? Should he offer less? And would she be able to fight for any of the equity of the house? (to be honest on my calculations even if she was entitled to some of the equity I think she would only be looking at around 2.4K anyway)

I can see her point of view and I would advise my daughter to ask for similar but this isn't my daughter its my son who supported her all the time she lived here with no complaints and is feeling a little aggrieved

Many thanks for any help you can give and let me know if any more information is needed.

diveunderthebonnet

Could she not ask for 50% of the house ,his pension etc. not saying she is entitled to this but with divorce it is not who paid for what but what is fair ( or un-fair ) when you get scr--ed.

AskAsk

diveunderthebonnet said:

Could she not ask for 50% of the house ,his pension etc. not saying she is entitled to this but with divorce it is not who paid for what but what is fair ( or un-fair ) when you get scr--ed.

this would be the danger but i don't know if short marriage affect how much you are entitled to?

Voyager2002

He should see a solicitor, even just a 30-minute free appointment. This would be treated as a short marriage, and so it is unlikely that she could claim any part of the house, his pension, or whatever.

AskAsk

personally i would give her half of the visa cost.  so 2.5k doesn't sound unreasonable.

Voyager2002

What is or is not reasonable would depend on what happened during the marriage, and whether they want to continue to be friends. The law does not get involved in these questions.

jackieblack

For a short marriage the courts aim to put both parties back to the position they were in prior to the marriage, as far as possible.
Your son should see a solicitor. For a simple case some will offer a fixed fee.

adolphin10

Many thanks all - i have messaged a solicitor my company works with to see if they can help and what the fee might be - he had a couple of 'free' appointments - the first was just telling him what they would charge and the second wasn't sure!

VyEu

Even if it's a short marriage then court would want to know how each party's needs, capital and income, are going to be met. It's a myth that short childless marriage automatically means no division of assets.

In this case, it's impossible to give any conclusibe advice because we don't know what her assets and his other assets and earning/earnings capacities are...but £2.5k for a clean break? If I were him I'd jump at that. 

Make sure you get a consent order and d81 submitted to the court so she can't come back for more later. 

Savvy_Sue

VyEu said:

Make sure you get a consent order and d81 submitted to the court so she can't come back for more later. 

This: very important to get a final financial settlement sooner rather than later, and if she'll agree to £2.5k that would be bargainous.