Separation....advice needed

[Mr. Smith]

My friend and his wife of five years are separating. They have one baby boy. They haev a nice house on an acre of land in the country. He wants to know where he stands in regards to the house. She bought the house at the time they met and he sold his house (he had before they met) and invested the money in "her" house when they got married. Where does he standing ? Any advice most appreciated.

 

[steve1234]

I think your friend looses everything. Hope he has got a nice car to sleep in. Even if he had a Prenuptial Agreement they are not worth the paper they are written on in an irish court- most countries do but not here.
People should never get married in ireland its a bad move if you've got money behind you - if your broke go for it.

 

[alaskaonline]

i would have thought they share everything i.e. everything they own gets split in half and everything they owe (depth) gets split, too unless the wife is at home with the child and therefore no income available but still, he shouldn't end up with nothing.

 

[j26]

Anything could happen, but the overriding concern will be for the welfare of the child, which since custody will most likely be awarded to the mother (there is a presumption that children under 4 are better off with the mother) means that she is more likely to get the house. Other alternatives are that it could be sold, and the proceeds divided out in some proportion.

But as I said, anything could happen. Tell your friend to get to a family law solicitor and/or mediator pronto. There are many other issues to be dealt with (maintenance, pensions etc)

 

[Mr. Smith]

Thanks for the replies, I'll pass them on to my friend. I forgot to mention that his wife works fulltime so I dont know if that makes a difference to my friend.

 

[truthseeker]

I think your friend looses everything. Hope he has got a nice car to sleep in. Even if he had a Prenuptial Agreement they are not worth the paper they are written on in an irish court- most countries do but not here.
People should never get married in ireland its a bad move if you've got money behind you - if your broke go for it.

How does his friend 'lose everything' - it will be a fair split down the middle, he entered a contract of marriage, no one forced him to do so. Now that the marriage has broken down he will be entitled to his share of the assets, as will his ex wife. Are you suggesting that people should marry and keep all assets and finances seperate?

 

[steve1234]

Are you suggesting that people should marry and keep all assets and finances seperate?

No im suggesting Prenuptial agreements should be allowed in Ireland

see here:
[broken link removed]

Prenuptial agreements are part of the family law system in many other common law countries, including the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Ireland and Britain are the only countries in the EU which do not have legislation allowing ‘prenups’, though the family courts in Britain have begun taking such agreements into account during divorce cases.

In my opinion in this case since its the family home - the wife and child will have the home and Mr smiths mate will get what ever is left over. If it was an investment property then it would be split in half but since its the family home she wont be forced to sell up and split the assets.
Im open to correction though