Separated from (farmer) husband - what can I claim?

This is on behalf of a friend what has left her husband(a farmer) they have 4 adult children. Wants to know her entitlements. Was told by a solicitor that she cant have 50% of everything only 33% and the farm can't be sold to be split as it was inherited. Can opt for half the value of the house, say 130k and by the way it will cost you 10k!!

Does anyone have the legal explanation? They are not legally seperated yet only living apart.

This is second hand so apologies if I have not got the full drift or made m,yself clear.

noah

Re: Seprarted from Husband(a farmer) what can I claim>

"Was told by a solicitor that she can't have 50% of everything only 33%"

A generalisation, but with a reasonable basis in many cases. There is no presumption in law that a husband is entitled to 50% of a wife's assets or vice versa. The Succession Act does say that (where there are children) your spouse is entitled to 33% of your estate. This guides the courts to some extent in family law matters.


"and the farm can't be sold to be split as it was inherited"

Also a generalisation; Not true as often as the first generalisation, esp. in circumstances where they own it for years and have effectively farmed it together.

Division of marital assets, and the factors to be taken into account, is a big and complex area. It is possibly beyond the scope of this forum.

thanks for reply, I agree but was hoping for someone to talk from experience.

noah

You asked for an explanation of the legalities and MOB (a solicitor I believe) kindly obliged. I don't see how first hand experience of a non solicitor is going to help matters.

What would happen in a separation if the husband wanted nothing, could he simply tell the wife to take it all and go their separate ways. Would a judge allow this to happen?

@clubman, most help given on bulletin boards is from practical experience and if this was not the case then you could have a list of stickies saying for example, any legal matters see a lawyer and so on. You would not have many visitors. I dont understand your post and what is the aim of it. It is quite posible that someone on here may have gone through the exact same scenario. If mob is a solicitor then why not comment on the charge of 10,000 euro to expedite share of house value???

noah

The only question in your original post was

NOAH said:

Does anyone have the legal explanation?

Click to expand...

and MOB dealt with that - possibly from a position of prior personal experience as a solicitor in such cases?

As for the charges issue that's not for MOB to comment on unless s/he (sorry MOB - not sure which) can provide some insight into the "usual" charges that might apply. Other than that has the person in question shopped around?

The standard advice to seek independent, professional advice on matters such as this regardless of what is posted on the bulletin board is pretty prudent too. Many of us are not experts in the relevant fields, some are but are commenting on the basis of partial information about the overall situations and some (including some of the former two categories) simply make mistakes.

user123456 said:

What would happen in a separation if the husband wanted nothing, could he simply tell the wife to take it all and go their separate ways. Would a judge allow this to happen?

Click to expand...

If husband & wife are in agreement, there will be no judge involved in a seperation. It's just an agreement between the 2 parties.

Divorce is a different question, mind you....

And obviously the existence of children may impact the matter too.