What is fair when seperating?

CB1979_2

Threebabes wrote: »

With only 36k equity, surely its not fair if shes contributed over the last few years towards the mortgage that she should walk away with nothing?

THe girlfriend has a child to provide for and a new home to set up.

but she hasn't contributed to it, what they've knocked off about £6k max.

it's only about year 4/5 you actually start seeing a decent fall in mortgage owed, the first few years pay off very little.

the house is worth less, than when first bought.

and the fella put £40k which otherwise would have earnt him interest in the bank.

sure they could say "well £40k is 28.5% of the original £140k price", he can either get the same percentage back off the new house price £if £130k = £37.5k) or the £40k, either way she won't walk away with anything and shouldn't do either.

I'm not saying he should walk out of this with any "profit", just what he put in and then any extra left over (which i doubt there will be) they split 50/50.

if anything as i said i'd offer to pay the solicitors bills and then give £1-2k token payment to help her get somewhere renting.

SkipE

When my husband and I first bought together I had no savings but he had about £40 000 from the sale of his house. We wrote up a legal agreement at the time of purchasing our house that if we split up he would get his £40 000 back and then we would split the rest.

This was a way of protecting his money. I actually suggested it and the solicitor supported the idea which makes me think that unless there is some sort of legal agreement or it is stated somewhere that he wont be able to claim that money back.

I have no idea on what would be considered a fair split Im afraid. I do agree however if she has paid a mortgage for a number of years that she should get some money back. Has your sons ex partner made any suggestions as to what she would consider? That might be the first place to start.

zekepes

I don't think she has any claim on the deposit money either.

Personally, I would ignore the fall in prices for now.

Without knowing the term of their mortgage it is difficult to put and exact figure on it but working with a 25 yr mortgage and an average interest rate of 6%, there current mortgage owing, after three years may be something like £99,500 - so £6500 paid off. 40 % of that would be £2600.

I think a fair figure would be between £2500 and £3000. I know that doesn't take into account the fall in prices but as she will no longer have a home, has a young child, and will have almost certainly spent time and money on the property I still think it is fair.

Tweds

Thanks again to all who replied, a lot of the advice was very good. I would now like to update the facts and ask for further opinions please?

My son, who is more generous than I am, originally offered his ex £10,000 for the seperation. She agreed to this and the process was started. Last week she suddenly asked for another £5,000 !!

We worked out that she has contributed about £6.5k to the mortgage in the 3 years. My son has contributed £10.5k plus his original £40k.

Now I think the original £10k offer was very generous but I now feel she is really taking advantage.

What do you think?

arthur_dent_2

Personally I would tell her that he has already offered her a very fair amount and that as a result of her demands he will now be decreasing this amount to £8000.

RoxieW

When working out the 60/40 ratio of who has contributed what - is this being done fairly? If she's had to take time of work whilst pregnant and on maternity leave, and perhaps a drop in hours afterwards then I dont think its fair that she should be penalised for this. I'd keep all discussion about who's paid what as 50/50 to keep the peace - afterall partnerships are not all about money. For example -my husband pays all of the bills/mortgage whereas I look after our 2 children and do all of the housework/cooking etc. Anything that we have would be split 50/50 as we both contribute in different but equally important ways.
All of the above is of course irrelevant as they dont seem to have made any equity with the house. However, I think a 10K goodwill gesture to set her and their son up, as well as splitting future costs regarding their son, would be a fair thing to do. I would follow the advice of getting a valuation though as she may not believe or want to believe that the house has decreased in value.