Understanding divorce......

[Mr_T]

A lot of these stories sound utterly ridiculous, in what possible world is it fair that on a jointly bought house you don't split it 50/50? I know there is often a lot of anger involved in divorces but I really can't understand how people can basically take away the others assets and earnings and not feel horribly guilty? I mean getting 30% of a persons pension?! how is that fair? Marriage doesn't sound so great after all...

 

[LeeTurner]

It gets worse. If you are divorced then set up home with a new partner but don't get married then your ex wife can get first dibs on your assets if something happens to you. Sounds incredible but I've seen it happen.
When I got divorced we decided to just have one solicitor to sort out the paperwork, shared the legal costs and split everything down the middle regardless of who bought what. This was in a different country (South Africa) and we also had an Antenuptual Contract (ironically referred to as an ANC) which we decided to rescind. ANCs work very well and would solve a lot of issues, although they can still be challenged. In South Africa there are three ways of handling a marriage/divorce:

• No ANC whereby it's community of property and sharing of debt.
• ANC with accrual whereby whatever you take into the marriage is yours and everything within the marriage is split.
• ANC with non accrual where whatever you take in is yours, whatever you buy in your name remains yours and everything else is split. However with the non accrual their is a legal requirement for either party to provide financial support should the other party not be able to support themselves.

A very fair system which should be introduced here.

 

[JustOne]

When I got divorced we decided to just have one solicitor to sort out the paperwork, shared the legal costs and split everything down the middle regardless of who bought what. This was in a different country (South Africa) and we also had an Antenuptual Contract (ironically referred to as an ANC) which we decided to rescind.

I take it you didn't have kids? If you did could she have taken you to the cleaners even with your agreement in place?

 

[LeeTurner]

Thankfully no kids involved.

 

[Crazyface]

Always put up as much as you can and fight like hell for the custody of the kids. When you have them you then cannot then get screwed over by anyone and YOU have control. Loose and...well you'll be screwed forever.

Motto is DONT HAVE KIDS