Husband now refuses to give me house

Alison_Chapman

Prior to getting married twelve years ago, my husband assured me that should we ever split up he would not want any part of the house that I had lived in for the previous ten years. We bought a second house together and rented out the first house which will be fully paid in 7 seven years. Recently we have been going through a sticky patch and during one recent discussion he told me that if we do split up he would want half of the equity on the house we rent out. But only, he assures me, the equity which has built up since we married. Whilst this is legally what he would be entitled to I feel that he has let me down by going back on a promise he made before we married. I wish I had insisted upon a pre nup agreement. Is there anything I can do? We have a thirteen year old son and I was thinking of signing the rented house over to him (the house has my name on the title deeds). This would at least provide us with somewhere to stay should we split up at sometime in the future. Could I sign over to him and leave the papers with a lawyer and use them at a later date should I need to or would I have to inform some governing body that the house has now changed hands. We live in Aberdeen so the law may differ in Scotland. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

tehone

I think the best thing to do would be to spend some money and book an appointment with a solicitor (you can get fixed fee apointments in England - don't about Scotland) and get proper legal advice as to what is/isn't the truth.

For instance I don't your husband is entitled to any of the increase in equity in your existing house that you owned (it sound like you owned it outright already)

pinkshoes

It's only money, and he is entitled to it. There are more important things in life!

And if you hadn't lived with him and bought the second house, then you wouldn't have had the increase in equity of a second property.

You're just going through a sticky patch. Tell him of course he would be entitled to his half of the equity since you got married! Perhaps he'd even like it to go to your son??

Why don't the two of you talk rationally about it, rather than bickering and saying things you'll both regret or already regret?

SandC

I agree with pinkshoes. You would never have had a second home if you hadn't married, your equity must be very substantial otherwise he wouldn't have changed his mind. How could he have known 10 years ago that the house prices would have risen so much?

If you are that concerned, sit down and talk about it and get some papers drawn up now so that you know where you are should things go wrong.

vaio

tehone wrote: »

………For instance I don't your husband is entitled to any of the increase in equity in your existing house that you owned (it sound like you owned it outright already)

and I think that the starting point (at least in England) is a 50/50 split of everything

Savvy_Sue

Rather than or even as well as a solicitor, would it help you to go to Relate or similar? If he doesn't want to, you can go on your own.

Oldernotwiser

I agree with all of the above but would add a word of warning about putting the house in your son's name. He'll be an adult before long and you'll have no guarantee that you'll have a place to live. "Putting it in his name" sounds all very well but in fact you're giving him a house and you'll then have NO say in what he does with the house or the money he could get from it if he sold it. Even if it were a good idea at the moment (which I don't think it is) you could be leaving yourself homeless in the future.

sticher

Have to agree with Oldernotwiser. Things can change so much and although you may feel you can trust your son - what about any future girlfriends. We all know how silly people can be when they are in love.