advice really

my friend is being divorced by his wife, he has two children, 20,24, he has left the family home, and his wife is in the process of divorce, he has given her the house, which is worth three hundred thousand, she has put a claim in for the pension,he pays her 500 a month, he owes no debts. his children have their partners living in the family home , and are all working including his wife, surely he must be able to support only himself after giving the home to his family ? can you please offer some advice as he believes this is normal.

Suzy,
On the surface it does seem extreme. However, for anyone to comment there would need to be a great deal more information posted about your friend and his ex-wife's financial position. Sounds like she is having her cake and eating it, and checking in the fridge as well.

Normally, the assets split is 50:50 after a long marriage, assuming each party are in similar circumstances.

But disparity in income, pension provisions, other assets, earnings potential, special needs of one spouse can slew the asset split in favour of one or other party. It might be anything from 50:50 to 95:5. However, the court recognizes the needs of your friend to house and keep himself too.

With no dependant children, housing needs met and children contributing to house it would seem that unless they have vastly differing incomes, she is taking him for a ride.

THe info needed for someone to hazard a guess at asset splits can be fed into the wikivorce calculator

www.wikivorce.com/divorce/Divorce-Calculator-Start.html

Dont use decimal points or symbols

If you want a more personal view - gather the info the calculator is asking for and post it up.

Mike