Thank you mh for all your help and advice regarding my work colleague's situation. It looks like the husband has seen the light and they can agree to actually get a divorce. Both parties have heard from other sources as well as from me that he would get more help from the kommune if he were single, and so it wouldn't pay to keep her in limbo any more.
Now the questions arise about property. They own a large house together, which she does not want to live in. He had put it up for sale but it never sold, and it needs a lot of work. How do they go about figuring the value of the house? Do they use the latest property tax appraisal, or should they get a private appraisal? Or do they use the equity they already have in the house according to the mortgage company? The house and the loan are in his name, and he still owes quite a bit on it.
She has recently bought a car and still owes money on it. He also has a camper and I don't know what else they have that might go into the calculation. How do they arrive at the value of these things?
And if he keeps the house, which he probably will at least until it is sold, and owes her a lot of money that he cannot afford to pay, is it common practice to work out a payment plan with an agreement about special inheritance rights if he dies before it is paid off? He's quite a bit older than she is.
And the last question is, if there is property to divide, can they still get an immediate divorce (straksskilsmisse) if they agree on the division of property? Are there instructions on statsforvaltnings website as to how to file the property agreement and are there extra charges for it?
Division of property
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mh1
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Re: Division of property
Bother! I wrote a long answer, only to see it disappear into cyberspace 
To take the last first: Statsforvaltningen does not bother to check anything regarding the division of property, also does not give neither advice nor assistance. They may just declare that it will be divided by agreement, or has been, if it has.
Your friend does NOT own any part of the house, and is not liable for any debts connected to it.
According to Danish law, property is divided as follows:
First you take all assets of one spouse and calculate their value, then you deduct all of that spouse's debts. If there is a positive sum left over, this must be divided equally.
Then you do the same with the assets of the other.
They may choose to use the evaluation from when the husband tried to sell the house, if it is not too long ago, and the value of the camper may be estimated by checking sales ads for similar campers. Otherwise they can share the cost of getting an appraisal on the house from a real estate agent.
They may also hire attorneys (one each), and/or take the division to the court, but that will be an expensive solution.
It may look like the husband owns a lot, but the actual value of his assets may not be all that much - an unsellable house in bad shape may be worth practically nothing, depending on the size of the land and its location.
It is not unusual that the spouse with the most assets is also the one with the largest debts, and thus the one with the smallest positive property. It may well be that your friend should just let him keep what's his, if he'll let her keep what's hers.
To take the last first: Statsforvaltningen does not bother to check anything regarding the division of property, also does not give neither advice nor assistance. They may just declare that it will be divided by agreement, or has been, if it has.
Your friend does NOT own any part of the house, and is not liable for any debts connected to it.
According to Danish law, property is divided as follows:
First you take all assets of one spouse and calculate their value, then you deduct all of that spouse's debts. If there is a positive sum left over, this must be divided equally.
Then you do the same with the assets of the other.
They may choose to use the evaluation from when the husband tried to sell the house, if it is not too long ago, and the value of the camper may be estimated by checking sales ads for similar campers. Otherwise they can share the cost of getting an appraisal on the house from a real estate agent.
They may also hire attorneys (one each), and/or take the division to the court, but that will be an expensive solution.
It may look like the husband owns a lot, but the actual value of his assets may not be all that much - an unsellable house in bad shape may be worth practically nothing, depending on the size of the land and its location.
It is not unusual that the spouse with the most assets is also the one with the largest debts, and thus the one with the smallest positive property. It may well be that your friend should just let him keep what's his, if he'll let her keep what's hers.
mh
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Re: Division of property
Thank you very much, mh, I have printed it all out and will give it to her tomorrow at work. When they crunch the numbers then they can decide whether or not to fight about it. I think at this point they would probably rather come to an agreement without any attorneys or the court. That is of course up to them but it is in the best interests of both of them.