Coming to an Agreement
If possible sit down with your partner, talk about your respective needs and try to reach an agreement. The court process regarding property can be long and painful so the more you can get out of the way in advance the better. If you and your partner are having trouble coming to an agreement, seek help from a specialist mediator.
There are numerous options and powers available to the courts. Make sure you talk through the various possible outcomes with a solicitor. When you go to court, they will encourage you and your partner to agree between yourselves without them having to make an order, so work out your boundaries for negotiation.
How a Court Decides
If a court ends up making an order regarding your home, their primary considerations will be the needs of any children and the means and earning potential of each partner. If there are no children, a court will usually divide the assets equally. If the mother gets sole residency of the children, she will usually also keep the family home. Even if the home is in the husband’s name, the courts have the power to sign it over to the wife in entirety.
If the children are independent but the mother has spent many years caring for them, a court will usually be disposed to securing capital and an income for her. They will also consider if she has re-married and given up a home or pension rights.
The father may be eligible for a Mesher order, whereby the home is assigned to the mother until the children are independent, at which point he would get a percentage share of the proceeds from the sale of the house.
Courts can also make certain types of orders to transfer rented property in a divorce. You should consult your solicitor as to what rules apply for you.
The main factors influencing a court’s decision are:
- The welfare of any children.
- The income, earning capacity and resources of each person.
- The financial needs, obligations and responsibilities of each person.
- The standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the marriage.
- The contribution made by each person to the welfare of the family.
- The conduct of each person. This is only in very exceptional cases.
Short Term Considerations
You may want to consult a solicitor to make sure any property owned by your spouse is not sold or renovated before you divorce. You can also ask the Land Registry to have your house registered in your name too.
Make sure to keep up any payments and draw up a budget for how you and your partner are going to manage the separation while keeping afloat. You may want to cut costs in the short term by cancelling insurance or other payments, but you could regret the decision in the future. Try to keep things running as close to normal as is possible under the circumstances.
If You Have to Leave
If the home atmosphere becomes too difficult to cope with or you are suffering abuse and have to leave, you will not lose any rights to the property.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
Your Ex is Living With a New Partner
You have no legal rights to a new partner’s property, but the fact they are living with someone else will usually lower their outgoings and therefore, especially in cases where children are involved, increase the amount of money available to provide for your accommodation.
Divorce Mortgages
Some banks and building societies now offer specialised divorce mortgages, which help you refinance and make a fresh start. Call your bank or building society and find out what they offer.
My husband is now saying that I am not entitled to much as he owned the property prior to us meeting. I would like to know if I am entitled to the 50% he promised, or can only expected to receive a fraction of what I have invested? He is retired, we have no dependent children.
In the next five years, I am hoping to sell the house - which now has some equity.
Should I try and organise a financial settlement now, or wait until I actually go to sell? Do I have a chance of acquiring more than a 50/50 split?
She has offered to buy me out for my share of the original deposit (£5000), we have a 19 month old son who we will be try to do 50/50 custody (once i have a place to live).
I am concerned firstly we won't be able to get me off the paper work due to the fact she is part time and would require benefits to cover the mortgage, is this something lenders will consider?
And will me come coming off the mortgage impact future mortgage applications?
If they won't remove me from the mortgage, the only other options are sell it which we don't want to do or i keep paying for a house i dont live in
Basically, my parents are giving me some and some friends have offered to loan me the rest. Am I able to accept this and buy her out this way with peoples help or do I have to prove I'm funding it via a unsecured loan or something?
We divorced 5 years ago.
My husband has a 30% lien on the property due in 5 years.
I want to settle it early, but my husband wont agree the price.
How can I sort this out.
can I ask the court to help and if so what should I ask
Thanks
After separating, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and after complication with seizures and epilepsy, he was deemed unfit for work. He hasn't worked for more than 5 years but receives a pension from the military. He was living in council accommodation for which he received housing benefit, but in the last 2 months he has had to move into a nursing home as he is physically unable to live alone.
Could you give me any advice on a likely financial settlement please?
Thanks very much.
I need to get the family home sold to free up the money to pay for a tax issue and help care for my partner I am living with as we are struggling to make ends meet. I have written many letters to my wife requesting her to make a decision which she refuses. All my seperated wife seems to be hung up on is the fact that I had an affair.
Can I force a sale even though my ex states I be making her and our 24 and 18 yr old sons homesless even thought they all work full time.
My partner and I separated last August after purchasing a property the previous January. As part of the separation it was agreed I would keep the property and buy out my ex-partner. After a very difficult few months trying to secure a mortgage I have finally done this and sent an offer for the release of interest to my ex-partner which has been refused and he is asking for an amount which I don't believe is representative of the amounts paid by him for the property. Furthermore, given the money spent from my personal finances to invest in the property then the amount becomes even more unrealistic.
We were unmarried with no children.
What options are left to me? I suggested he hire a mediator at his own expense to help resolve this but I feel it's foolish as even then he will have to take the amount I'm offering to pay for such services rendering his overall net gain much less than both the value he is demanding and the value I am offering. I have to say our solicitors have been less than helpful given they have only advised we sort it out between us but it's so difficult reaching an agreement with someone so wholeheartedly stubborn and inflexible despite the fact they have been presented with solid traceable facts and figures (moneys paid in and out of joint account).
Thanks
I believe my ex. plans to pay of the remaining mortgage (negligible) before then and the estimated value of the house is c. £400,000. My share is therefore in the region of £52,000. My eldest son wishes to buy me out of my share by taking out a loan/mortgage for that sum... we are just not sure how this can be done. Would he be able to get a mortgage to buy in to a small share of the house?
I have a joint morgage with my husband but I have always paid the morgage while my partner has worked part time and aid the bills although he has been a house husband for the last year. In this case would I have more right over the house or would it still need to be split 50/50
I've been married for 20 years and I have 2 children 19 and 15 years old. the house and the mortgage in my husband sole name and he pay the mortgage because he work as was busy raising my children. now my husband want to remortgage the house because he want's to buy a bigger one, but I have bad feeling that he up for something.. what is the worth that could happen if he remortgage the house?
thankyou
.
In this case would I have more right over the house or would it still need to be split 50/50
My wife and I are separating after 13 years of marriage. We have a 12 year old son.
My wife was previously married and bought the house we live in with her 1st husband. She was 21 at the time and divorced a few years later. We are both in our late 40s. Her previous married name remains on the mortgage alongside her then husbands. She has tried to change this but complications due to his now living in Asia have prevented this.
My wife worked whilw i have stayed at home with our son and although not employed I have finished to college courses and am presently finishing my third which should lead to employment. At the moment I receive no benefits as my wife works just over the amount of hours allowed for receipt of benefits. For the first few years i worked and contributed jointly.
Could you give me any advice on a likely financial settlement please
Thank you
Ask Divorce Resource a question
Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.
You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.
Comments are moderated before publication.