No value in assets

Posted by: Shelly
03/05/08 at 7:20 am

I would appreciate some legal advice on this situation with regard to a friend of mine.

He recently bought a large house (5-6 bedroom property) for him and his family (two children of a young age) along with a foreign property. Due to the depression in the housing market neither of the properties have any equity in them, in fact they are possibly in a negative equity position.

He recently found out that his wife was on her second affair within a 6 month period. he had forgiven the first one but no sooner was the first one over than she was meeting someone else and he recently found the man in his house with his wife.

This has caused him to consider the marriage to be over and he has taken advice from solicitors. He has been told that because the assets have no value in them - both the house they are living in and the foreign property - that his wife is entitled to full ownership of both of them, and to make it worse, that because he is the earner in the family (she does not work, though the children are at school) he has to pay all the bills and pay her 20% of his net salary.

Somehow this doesnt seem fair. I understand that if the family home cannot be sold that they should have a right to live in it until such time as it can be sold when the housing market picks up and then they live in something more befitting their requirements. What I dont believe is that she has the right to take the property as a whole and he wont be entitled to anything in the longer term and that she gets all of the foreign property.

The advice he has received is from a solicitor that comes recommended therefore he is not intending to seek a second opinion. I think that it must be incorrect advice because despite the fact that the breakdown of the marriage is her fault due to her continued affairs and there is no equity in anything because she has previously run up large amounts of debt that has been paid off, surely she cannot be entitled to everything, even if they do have kids.

I would appreciate some advice on this so I can convince my friend to seek a second opinion if it is worthwhile.

Thanks very much