divorce laws and divison of assests

[abc1962]

my brother lives in Finland, is English and has a family and finnish wife. His wife has filed for divorce and the second stage comes into effect in march. He has done nothing about the divorce, has no idea what the papers say, what the arrangements are on access to the children, how much is to provide on division of assets. As far as I know the only value he has is the house.
It is complicated further in that he has been unemployed for the last 6 months and has been drinking heavily and is emotionally incapable of dealing with any of this. He is due to go into detox next week,but we don't know how long for

My questions are if any one knows is it possible to delay the divorce until he is able to cope? Is he entitled to legal aid so that he can get legal advice? Can he get someone to act on his behalf in settling the divorce if he is not able?

[rinso]

is it possible to delay the divorce until he is able to cope?

Being depressed and an alcoholic is no reason for a delay.

Is he entitled to legal aid so that he can get legal advice?

http://www.suomi.fi/suomifi/english/ser ... index.html

Can he get someone to act on his behalf in settling the divorce if he is not able?

He can get a lawyer to represent him but I doubt if a free lawyer would do anything more than arrange a standard package.

Some information:
http://oikeusministerio.fi/en/index/pub ... minen.html
http://www.oikeus.fi/17296.htm

[Pursuivant]

If the house is fully owned or has a huge mortgage on it is the question,as well as what the missus is planning to do, stay or move. Apparently shes in the pissed off mood, but she needs also signatures with the bank so she might be cooperative.

One thing to remember is if theres joint mortgage-loan papers signed, the banks go for the other party first, so if he has been drinking and left the missus pay, the debts come off the top first... and if hes blown his records and the bailiffs are after him, there go them assets...

[Rip]

Financial part of things is likely rather straight forward (you indicate the situation isn't very complicated, and there are rules to follow). For custody and visitation rights on the other hand, the deal even good lawyer can get if the mother is uncooperative, will probably be not so good, if he has to admit that his client isn't attending because of his alcohol problem...