Jackson, NJ Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

All of these questions are matters for negotiation if there is any possibility of settlement.  Because of the length of marriage, you may not be entitled to a portion of the pension, but your current disability may affect that.  You will be entitled to alimony.  In the interim, you should be applying for Social Security Disability, possibly based off of his work history, and get that in place if possible before the divorce. 

I'm not sure it is an ethical violation for an attorney if a client refuses to settle.  even if after the litigation, the settlement was close to or even the same as what was first offered, that is not necessarily the result of some violation of the attorney.  Many times the amount that a case should be settled for cannot be determined until there is some discovery of issues.  But you should contact the attorney ethics Board in the county in which the matter w as heard if you think there was an ethics violation.

It sounds as if you may need an attorney to help you move forward, because it looks as if you got stuck after you filed initial paperwork. You need to make a request for orders of Spousal Support immediately, it will not be half of his income, but it will be a significant help. Next, you need to begin finding out exactly what the marital assets and debts are, where they are held, if any significant amounts have been removed by your husband since the separation date, and prepare a proposal to divide things approximately 50/50. If you can't work it out, you will need to go to trial and have the Judge divide things, but you need court orders, not just private agreements in order for it to be enforceable.