Expert: Equality in Marriage Institute - 8/9/2005

Question
Hello, I am asking this question in behalf of my mother.  My parents appear to be headed for divorce.  They have their house up for sale which is worth $450,000 with no mortgage, they are still living together but separated in the home.  They have been married for almost 50 years.  Recently my fathers temper has been bad, he has threatened to kill my mother, thrown bottles at her and the police have been called to the house 4 times.  My father's income for himself through retirement is $27,000 tax free, half of that is from his work pension.  My mother only gets $5000 a year.  While they have been separated my father cut off the phone and forced my mother to get her own cell phone, he cut off her car insurance and is not buying her any food.  With my mothers $5000 a year there is no way she can afford to pay these things.  Is there a way that she can get half of my fathers pension while they are waiting to sell the house and get on with the divorce?  There must be a law allowing her to get this money because I doubt the government wants to be responsible to support my mother.  Any information would be helpful.  Thanks.

Answer
Dear Wallace,

There some steps your mother can take to protect herself. One is to statrt educating herself on teh divorce laws of her state. Genrally there is some waiting period before one can actually obtain a divorce and this varies by state (heck out divorcesource.com for state specifics). Your mother will most likely have a every right to a portion of her husband's pension and his social security. In order to obtain this she will be best served by speaking with a divorce lawyer. A lawyer can request that she be given money while the divorce process is occurring and for husband to pay for her lawyer's fees.
I do not know what state you are emailing from so I cannot give you any state specific info. I would recommend that you use google and search under "Senior Legal Hotline Directory" to find legal resources that may be of soem assistance to her.
I hope this helps.