Friend has taken out a large loan to pay for his legal defense team to defend himself against allegations made by the wife. She has taken the children and moved out, put a non-mol on him. She is defending herself through the help of a charity, and he is adamant she doesnt know what shes doing so hes taken the loan to pay his own legal defense. Hes only at this stage in the Family Law courts to obtain access to his child.
He seems to think that he can claim at least half of this loan back when they eventually go for a divorce as part of the matrimonial assets. I think hes nuts, this cannot be the case can it?
I'm not certain about this, but I would say that only a loan taken out during the marriage for the benefit of the married couple (and children) would be taken into account. At this point, they are legally separated, and I would strongly doubt that he will be able to put this loan against the assets of the marriage, so I think this will be down to him. He'd probably need to get advice from his legal adviser as to their opinion on this though.
I would say she wont be responsible for half of it as a large loan has been obtained after they split. Just like she cant just go and borrow thousands and expect him to pay half of it.
My best advice to your mate would be to join some forums and ask for some advice. Represent himself if he can early on in proceedings . This will then save him a lot of money. Where his ex is getting help and represented i assume for free they can rack up huge costs by emailing/ringing and court appearance where not a lot happens at the start.
If things get complex or awkward or when it comes to a final hearing a lot of people get represented then.
A 1st hearing for example can cost say 500-1500 pounds for an ex to say no u not seeing your children leaving a judge with no choice but to order s7 report and another hearing with no access. Even before this hearing there could be charges for back and forth with emails and position statement etc. im guessing he has already done 1st hearing already perhaps
Also let your friend know that financial proceedings are 10 x worse than family court proceedings potentially in terms of cost especially with an ex that will cause lots of problems. I am surprised as he has a non molestation served on him that he actually still lives in the matrimonial home unless she has gone to a womans refuge or something