recovered to be scared about what he can gain!

I am still married ( 2 years sep) to an african citizen, who now has UK residency ( not gone for citizenship). It lasted a gruelling 6 years and I managed to get away after when he perforated my ear drum and I got an harrassment order and then moved him out to a different house and paid for his rent. Over the time he did not contributed to any mortgage payments and I soley had acquired my property before I met him. Why is it that two sol have told me he is entitled to half of it and my Pension?????????They scare me. I am only now recovering emotionally and financially having paid off the debts that I incurred while married to him..he also had a habit.... now I have a good job, so cant get help but dont have the money to the tune of £1K or any 'cash assets' to do anything with. I have filed for divorce back in May after one discussion that led me to believe he would sign/consent- tried to do it DIY through the courts but he has not sent respondents form back, I know he has it, but he is now saying he has no address for any further correspondence. He has got free legal advice and they have obviously told him he can get MORE money out of me....he has managed to get my number again after I changed it and he continues to harass me and now its about getting money, but he doesn not understand how divorce works and he needs to send the form Etc
Should I re- file and change the particulars as I was not asking anything from him
( obviously - dont think he is working, no children) but now if this goes to court I would have to claim those costs from the overall settlement??
Is the only road to put myself into MORE debt and pay for a solicitor to sort this out really to be rid of him? How can I instruct a sol. if I dont have an address etc??
Anyone? Bright ideas welcome.
Thanks
kuntakinte ( apologies - some people appear to be offended by my user name, if you dont know the name its the name of a famous slave in the roots story)

Yes, I knew about Kunta Kinte, aka Toby but it did make me check whether you were a lady or a gentleman ( we're beginning to get civil partnerships on wikivorce).

The most important issue is whether you have children.
You don't mention any. But it is very important that I have the answer to this one.

Assuming you haven't - then you have a shortish marriage
and the fact that you had it before marriage would be in your favour, but I'm afraid to have to say that he is going to get something out of this. I don't think it will be much, and certainly not 50%. I think it's more likely that he might get something which would enable him to get furniture and other basic essentials to rent a flat.

It is possible that he might get spousal maintenance from you but not for any length of time. Does your husband work,and if not, what is the reason ? He will be expected to support himself. The idea behind the maintenance is to tide him over while he looks for work
( or, putting it more crudely, the Treasury would rather you paid the benefits and not them ).

I don't think you will get away scot free but on the limited information supplied I do not think he is likely
to hurt you too much. I hope so anyway.

Mike M

Hey thanks for your suggestions, more realistic than anything I have heard so far.
No children, flat acquired before we married but when I moved him out which took nearly a year of abuse... i bought a flat to live in as moved city to get away and rented out the other one ( it was too emotional staying in the same abode) Then I guess he has entitlement to this - but again solely acquired and this was after we separated? do they take that into account?
I actually paid him £3K when we separated and paid his deposit for a flat but he got himself evicted about 8 months later.

I am the one with more earning power, he works on and off as a labourer, not skilled, his english still not great even though he has been in the UK 6 years. I paid for land for his family to live in in Africa which is all in his name, I have no idea what that property is worth.
Would the maintenance b a trade off so he does not have any entitlement to my pension although if I did a Clean Break order, that would suffice?
This 'something' he is likely to get i guess I have accepted but how do courts if it goes to that way, make you pay, more debt for me ... they cant make me sell when I live in the property can they?
He does not deserve another penny from me he got everything he wanted and was then abusive, I have been had. Why doesnt the divorce law take this into account ?

Hmmmm - your case is one I find quite interesting, and would make a good examination question in Family Law, but of course, this is for real, and the practicalities are that you have to consider what it might cost if you had to fight this through the Courts, because, as many contributors to wiki will tell you, they can be expensive, and often disproportionately so.

I'm afraid I would be old fashioned enough to regard your marriage as short ; my parents were married 64 years which does put it in perspective ! But perhaps there are some who would regard it as short to middling.

An English Court is required by statute to CONSIDER whether it is practical to achieve a clean break. That does not mean it has to impose a clean break ; but at least it must consider the possibility. The fact that your marriage is shortish ( I will be diplomatic and not rely too much on my old timey views ) that there are no children, and that your husband is capable of work, strongly suggests to me that you are in clean break territory. It may not be possible to impose an immediate clean break ; but at least I think the Courts would think along the lines of working towards it, and in your case sooner rather than later. Maybe at the moment finding work is not easy, but if tax credits are taken into account, then even modest earnings can be augmented to the point where you can at least earn an honest crust.

I am impressed by the fact that you bought land for his family which is in his name ( and this should be taken into account ) and that you paid the deposit on a flat for him. I think a Court might be impressed too. Nobody needs to be evicted for rent arrears these days. There is housing benefit to enable people to meet their housing costs.

Having said this, English divorce law tends to be very much needs based. When there are children involved, this can lead to results which are quite startling. It can mean a man being forced to leave the home which he brought into the marriage, simply to make sure the children have a roof over their head.
This is one of the reasons why I think your husband will not walk away empty handed, and that such a payment could be based more on his need than any contributions ( which seem to me wholly negative ). There is at least an argument ( in most cases ) that at the very least a man is entitled to a decent roof over his head and to have enough to furnish it decently, and
enough income to afford to pay the rent. So that is the reason why I made the suggestion I did.

As to pension - well, he's in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks he's going to get half your pension. Objectively, his share in your pension ought to be small - 12.5% give or take a few percentage points either way. Now sometimes even a small share like that can be useful, if the higher earner has time to repair the damage, and the lower earner does at least have a start on the ladder and can add to it over the years. Somehow in your case I have this kinda sorta feeling that it wouldn't work, and he would just be left with a pittance on retirement which might be knocked off his benefits anyway.

Let me give you one final piece of advice. One thing you must avoid, at all costs, is an open ended order , one that lasts until one of you dies or he re-marries. In your case, fortunately, this is very unlikely ; a short term order seems more appropriate. Don't ask me why, or you will get a rant. I think, frankly, you need to see a solicitor specialising in family law, and get some advice. As you will see from my profile, my experience lies elsewhere.

Mike