This is not a marriage of 3 years. It will be treated as a marriage of 30 years. What you have been told by different lawyers is correct. For what it is worth the principles which will be applied by a court are set out in section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act which I have pasted below. It takes knowledge of how the courts deal with these things in practice to know (as near as anyone can know) how these principles will be applied in a particular case. In this case I can tell you beyond a shadow of doubt that the paragraph which any court will be most concerned about is (b) - needs.
>>25 (1) It shall be the duty of the court in deciding whether to exercise its
powers .... to have regard to all the circumstances of the case including
the following matters, that is to say -
(a) the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources
which each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the
foreseeable future;
(b) the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities which each of the
parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;
(c) the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the
marriage;
(d) the age of each party to the marriage and the duration of the marriage;
(e) any physical or mental disability of either of the parties to the marriage;
(f) the contributions made by each of the parties to the welfare of the
family, including any contribution made by looking after the home or caring
for the family;
(g) the conduct of each of the parties, if that conduct is such that it would
be inequitable to disregard it;
(h) ...the value to either of the parties to the marriage of any benefit (for
example, a pension) which ... (by reason of the divorce) ..that party will
lose the chance of acquiring;...<<
