NSW Is Husband Entitled to Anything if We Divorce?

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Judy1

Member
29 January 2017
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I married an American citizen 10 years ago. We live here. We have no children together and we are both in our sixties. When my husband gets angry, which happens a lot, he threatens me with divorcing me and taking half of everything I own.

When we married, I owned my own home outright. I had a well paying job and defined benefit superannuation. He came into the marriage with no assets and no money. He has only worked here for six months in total and we now live on my superannuation.

He has never paid any bills but does some work around the house occasionally. He claims he is entitled to everything I have including everything I owned before we were married and my superannuation which we accessed 4 years after he got here and which I paid into for 30 years without him.

I sometimes think I am living with a border who does not pay rent, especially when he becomes abusive.

Is it possible for me to find out if he is actually entitled to all of this, he also claims he has to be left everything in my will. Is that so?
 

Tim W

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
28 April 2014
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Sydney
Take yourself, by yourself, to a family law specialist,
and start making arrangements to get this abusive freeloader
out of your life.
 

Hayder Shkara

Lawyer
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16 January 2017
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Sydney, NSW
www.neatlaw.com.au
Hi Judy. Sounds horrible. I agree with Tim - you should have a private meeting with a family lawyer to start planning and removing your-self from your partner.

You do not need to leave him anything in your will. However, if you do stay married and pass away, he may be able to fight and possible win some of your estate. Please note all of the uncertainty in the previous sentence - it isn't as simple as getting everything automatically.

Sounds like you're not sure yet whether or not you want to separate him? You can give me a free call if you ever want to discuss.
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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Yup - look I generally encourage avoiding solicitors... But when you're talking about your life savings vs someone with nothing.... good legal advice is money well spent.

You've got two issues here. If you're married to him when you die then he has a really good claim on your estate even if you have a will he can make a claim. Actually - even after divorce he technically could have a claim if you don't have a will that says differently.

Look, I'm a punter and have only looked into this part of family law a little bit. So with that in mind, I reckon a few grand spent on a solicitor to get a good idea of a plan to go forward is money well spent.
 
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