Re: eastendgirl

Posted by: Suzanne Kingston, partner, Dawson's Solicitors
02/06/08 at 1:55 pm

In any application for divorce, a judge would have to be satisfied that your marriage has irretrievably broken down before they would dissolve the marriage. From what you have said, it seems as though this is not necessarily the case in your situation. There are many people that you could speak to for counseling, if you think this would be useful, and your local citizens advice bureau, or Relate may be a good starting point.

However, if you decide that you do want to get divorced, in any application for a financial settlement on divorce (ancillary relief), the court will look at the following factors, in no order of priority:

a) the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources which each party has, or is likely to have in the foreseeable future, including an increase in earning capacity;

b) the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities which each party has, or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;

c) the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the marriage;

d) the ages of the parties and the length of the marriage;

e) any physical or mental disability of a party to the marriage;

f) the contributions that each party has made, or is likely to make to the welfare of the family, including any contribution by looking after the home or caring for the family;

g) the conduct of the parties, if it would be inequitable to disregard such conduct; and

h) the value to each of the parties to the marriage will lose any benefit which, by reason of the dissolution or annulment of the marriage, that party will lose the benefit of acquiring.

Generally speaking, the longer the marriage, the more likely it is that the assets will be more equally divided. When looking at the length of the marriage, the court would add on any period of premarital cohabitation. If this would be 21 years in your situation, the courts would view this as a long marriage.

The court can make a variety of financial orders in relation to finances. They can order capital settlement, which is a “once and for all” payment from one spouse to the other. This can include property transfer and pension sharing orders. The court can also order maintenance to be paid from one spouse to the other (spousal maintenance). This can either be for “life” ie: until the death or remarriage of the receiving spouse, or for a set period of time (term maintenance) to enable the spouse to adjust to their new financial situation.

As you can see, one of the factors that the court would consider would be (e) any physical or mental disability that a spouse may have. This is particularly relevant in your situation. The court would however take into account all financial resources available including state benefits etc.

You should get proper legal advice, which is specific to your circumstances. A good place to look for someone suitable would be from the Resolution website which is an organization of family lawyers.