Judicial separation

myrsoir

I would be very grateful to hear from anyone in the know with respect to my current situation:
-I was with my husband 11 years before we married.
- Within weeks of us returning from honeymoon I caught him cheating and kicked him out of our home which we have a joint mortgage on (No kids).
- it is now 6 months later and his mistress (let's call her that for decency sake) is pregnant and his solicitor has placed request to the courts for a decree of judicial separation (on false terms) I.e. he does not currently meet grounds for JS.

My question is this: we earned relatively equal salaries and our mortgage repayments are divided equally. No other major assets to divide. Will the judge look favourable on him from the perspective of entitlement as his mistress is expecting, even though from a marriage perspective he has wronged me and not vice versa? I would add that he is a solicitor and likely to try every truck in the book. Many thanks in advance

Purple Mountain

I think you will have a better response in the legal forum.
Good luck!

FishOnABike

I would think the best thing to do is one or other of you buy out the other's equity in the house, remortgaging it and transferring it into the sole ownership of the person buying out the other.

Alternatively (if the house is in positive equity) sell the house and split the remaining equity after the outstanding mortgage has been cleared.

Reading http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/separation_and_divorce/judicial_separation.html it would seem his own conduct gives him grounds for judicial separation. I don't know why he would need to make an application on false grounds.

myrsoir

Thanks for your reply. The grounds for judicial separation based in adultery is only allowed by the applicant if they are NOT the adulterer. So as such my husband cannot use this as grounds for judicial separation as he is the party at fault.

Sassygirl1999

myrsoir wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. The grounds for judicial separation based in adultery is only allowed by the applicant if they are NOT the adulterer. So as such my husband cannot use this as grounds for judicial separation as he is the party at fault.

don't you need to be living apart 1 or 3 years ?

myrsoir

Sassygirl1999 wrote: »

don't you need to be living apart 1 or 3 years ?

Yes, that is one of the grounds for judicial separation which does not apply to my situation hense why he is lying in order to get this to court on other grounds.

osarusan

What is it exactly that you want out of all this?

I mean, what is the preferred outcome for you?

myrsoir

osarusan wrote: »

What is it exactly that you want out of all this?

I mean, what is the preferred outcome for you?

Would just like to keep my home.

Sassygirl1999

myrsoir wrote: »

Would just like to keep my home.

I thought ireland was no fault divorce

Dial Hard

Sassygirl1999 wrote:

I thought ireland was no fault divorce

It is, the adultery will have absolutely no bearing on the terms of the separation or eventual divorce agreement.

Would you try mediation first, OP? If the two of you can come to an amicable(ish) agreement on the disposal of your assets it will make the judicial process a lot easier. Offer to buy him out and see what he says.

I'm not sure if you need to be separated a year before you can go to mediation though.

myrsoir

Dial Hard wrote: »

It is, the adultery will have absolutely no bearing on the terms of the separation or eventual divorce agreement.

Would you try mediation first, OP? If the two of you can come to an amicable(ish) agreement on the disposal of your assets it will make the judicial process a lot easier. Offer to buy him out and see what he says.

I'm not sure if you need to be separated a year before you can go to mediation though.

It is true that blame does not come into divorce (which takes 5 years), however for a judicial separation there are grounds that need to be met I.e. adultery, behaviour of one party which would make it impossible for other person to stay, living separately for over a period of one year. In my case, I haven't behaved inappropriately, committed adultery (that was him) and we have not been separated a year. I agree that mediation would be best but of you are offered nothing you don't have a choice but to go to court.
Can anyone please answer my question as to whether his mistress being pregnant will count against me in proceeding as I do not have any dependents???

Owryan

Do you have a solicitor of your own?

What exactly do you want from this? Since he is the one who committed adultery then you could seek to apply for a judicial separation.

I would imagine it would be hard for anyone to say what the judge will do since every case is different. But if he has a child to support then that will have to be taken into consideration in any financial arrangements, imo.

myrsoir

Owryan wrote: »

Do you have a solicitor of your own?

What exactly do you want from this? Since he is the one who committed adultery then you could seek to apply for a judicial separation.

I would imagine it would be hard for anyone to say what the judge will do since every case is different. But if he has a child to support then that will have to be taken into consideration in any financial arrangements, imo.

Thanks for your reply. I suppose I have been holding off on judicial separation proceeding as currently I have the house and he pays half the mortgage. I'm unsure whether financially I will be able to buy him out and with no legalities in place, he has to continue paying the mortgage. This whole situation is in its infancy so I'm just getting my bearings.

Dial Hard

myrsoir wrote:

It is true that blame does not come into divorce (which takes 5 years), however for a judicial separation there are grounds that need to be met I.e. adultery, behaviour of one party which would make it impossible for other person to stay, living separately for over a period of one year. In my case, I haven't behaved inappropriately, committed adultery (that was him) and we have not been separated a year. I agree that mediation would be best but of you are offered nothing you don't have a choice but to go to court. Can anyone please answer my question as to whether his mistress being pregnant will count against me in proceeding as I do not have any dependents???

It's four out of five years for a divorce; you can divorce after 4 years if you've been continuously separated that long.

With regards to the judicial separation, you can't stop it happening, the most you can realistically do is just delay it for another six months until the 12 month period is up and he can apply himself. And what will that avail you, really, other than an extra six months at home, during which he may well decide to stop paying his half of the mortgage.

You need legal advice. Burying your head in the sand isn't going to achieve anything.

And his mistress (I hate that word) being pregnant isn't going to go against you in any personal capacity, but the fact that he will have a dependent will be taken into account when the time comes that you both have to furnish your affidavits of means.

To be honest, you dragging this out may well end up working in his favour. If the baby is born by the time he's doing his AoM then he gets to include all his baby-related expenditure on his.

nuac

Mod
Sorry, cannot get legal advice thru' this forum
Consult your own solicitor.
Thread closed.
Good luck