My H wants to liquidate our assets (we own a house in joint and a business) within an approximate time frame of 3 months (while we still are both living there) and split everything without the use of lawyers (he refers to them as the wolves) because they take so much. He is retired with a full pension and retirement gratuity and I have a minimal of both. Any advice or past experience here to base a decision on? There is no issue of custody and if he wants a divorce, I will not contest it nor will I file for one.

In my own divorce, we avoided bringing lawyers in and managed to split everything more or less equally. There were no custody issues, and like you, I wouldn't file, but I didn't contest the divorce.

That said, I was extremely lucky. Neither one of us could have afforded a lawyer, and my XW, to her credit, honestly didn't want anything more than her half...which was very little...we didn't have much!

If you have substantial assets together, or believe even for one second that he might try to keep more than his fair share, get a lawyer.

Reread cjack's comments for my comment.

I could never have gotten through my divorce without an attorney. But we had tons of issues.

It sounds like there may be some complicated issues to deal with if you have been married awhile and are entitled to some of his retirement/pension, And selling a business also sounds like there may be some legal ramifications.

What I did was get together all of the finacial paperwork myself, then went to a lwayer and we ended up sharing a laywer to keep costs down. But she was able to give us the law on division, and know what would be awarded in court. Dont cheat yourself out of you fair share of your accumulated assests. You only have this one chance to set up for your future, and no matter how friendly the divorce seems now, there are always emotionally charged issues and set ideas of what one person wants. do not count on him to be looking out for your best interests... you have to do that yourself, or if you cant, you need a laywer.

sadsong,

Is he giving you half his pension and retirement? I got half my ex's and wouldn't have without an attorney, that in itself was worth getting a lawyer for.

ANNA

Split the assets you can see 50 /50 without a lawyer, then go for your share of his hidden assets, at that point you need a lawyer. Anything you can solve without the lawyer is a plus for your financial wellbeing. Dont sign anything he shows you untill a lawyer sees it.