Advice on divorce on later life

Experienced.

New "No blame" divorces can be relatively smooth.

Took advice for a lovely solicitor and had my free half hour and paid to go up to the hour to find out about it. By Zoom.

She was supportive and had a great PA. won't say more, too painful, but do find out all about finances and separation.

If you go with the "No Blame" then you dont have to go into all the "reasons" but its harder if your partner doesnt agree.

I qualified for free legal aid up to a certain amount when I divorced many years ago but not sure if that is available now. What I did learn from using a solicitor is that they charge for everything; every phone call etc. They even sent a wrongly worded letter out and charged me for the fact that they had to amend it. My solicitor left and my case was moved to another one and they charged me for the time he spent getting up to speed on my case. In the end I went through all of the things they charged me for that I felt were unreasonable and they reduced the amount dramatically. Maybe Citizens Advice would be the right people to speak to initially for help and advice? Oh and the best thing my solicitor [the nice one I first spoke to] did do was obtain a part of my husbands pension. Had that not been done I would be in a terrible financial state now I'm retired.

No personal experience but I wish you well and hope you get through this and come out happier on the other side. Being shouted and bawled at is unacceptable.
Take legal advice about your property. You paid the mortgage and he has only been with you 12 years so hopefully you can buy him out if need be.
You may be entitled to part of his pension if he has one.
Get advice.

No experience here either , but I wish you well. Seems like you have had more than enough of his foul temper! You deserve so much more . Good luck . 💐💐

I have no personal experience but didn't want to ignore your post. The only advice I can offer is to make sure you use a solicitor with experience in this area of the law.

Attempting to keep costs down initially may backfire and cost you more in the long run.

This is a huge step and I admire your courage and wish you peace and happiness in your new life .