Hi there,
I wonder if anyone can shed some light on a particular problem that a friend of mine is having. I'm pretty sure that the poor chap is being taken for a ride and would be better off seeking legal advice..but wondered if anyone else could confirm or perhaps been in similar situation.
He separated from his wife of sixteen years two years ago, moved out of the family home that they shared with their two children and went abroad to work to lick his wounds more than anything. The house was worth £175.000, which she and the children kept, and she gave him their savings of £30,000. No sooner had he caught his flight that she moved another man in (he only found this out recently, hence not being able to do anything at the time). This house was then sold, for a profit of £60,000 and they moved to a better area and bigger house..her, the new man and the children. My friend receives a good pension from the services (he was in over twenty years) and has always given her this...£100 p/w CASH for the children (of course, he believed her sob story of being a struggling single parent). NOW he has heard that she has sold up again, moving to an even bigger house with the proceeds of two sales, is buying a boat for her boyfriend, new car, foreign holidays etc etc (she also has her own business, doesnt declare the boyfriend as living there, so picks up extra benefits on top, AND still insists on his £100 p/w. My friend is struggling to make ends meet with his fiancee and her children and is starting to resent what she has apparently done and conned him out of. I'm telling him to see a solicitor, but he says the divorce is through and done and theres nothing he can do now. I'm sure that for starters he can stop paying her CASH each week and either send a cheque (for which there would be some record of), reduce her payments to at least half or even go throught he CSA voluntarily (to which payments would be less, legal and also take into account his new family)...I'm also sure that because she lied at the time about the house, that it was given to her as her and the children's home, that because another man moved in, he can at least still claim some of the equity from it. Dont get me wrong, he doesnt want to see the children suffer and never will..but she has been very cold and calculating and hasnt played it fair all round. If she wasnt rubbing his nose in boats, holidays, new cars etc etc with her new man he wouldnt be bothered..but the children are not benefitting. Any one have any advice.
Thanks x