What are my rights in this messy seperation?

Deep_Ocean

The background story is this;

I seperated from my then wife in October 2007, I left the family home and moved in with my parents and have not paid any mortgage payments since leaving the home which we lived together for 5 years. She moved her new lover into our home the folowing day to me moving out. She became pregnant by her lover in december 2007 and recently had her baby in September. I filed for a divorce which was completed in April 2008.

As the situation currently stands my name is still on the mortgage of our home which is now for sale with a local estate agent. This is not proving successful due to the current economical climate and the fact that my ex-wife is not in any rush to move out. I don't think she is making any real effort in selling the property so she is playing happy families in my home. I have around £10,000 tied up in the property.

We accumulated £2,000 worth of debt on a credit card whilst we were together. This is being paid by our joint accounts overdraft as a direct debit. It was a 0% credit card but now we are paying very high interest rates on it. Neither of us are puttin money into our joint account and so we are £200+ overdrawn. The credit card is soley in my name.

My questions are this.

1. As I left the home a year ago and have not made any mortgage contributions, am I still entitled to 50% of the property. The way I see it, I have 50% ownership to the home and therefore legally her lover should be renting my part of the property off me. But I doubt that the law will see this point of view. So what advice will be given to my ex-wife when she contacts her solicitor. And what advice would you guys give to me.

2. Does my ex wife have any obligation to pay half of the credit card bill. I want to pay my half off but she is not willing to make any payments at ll until the house is sold.

3. Do I have any rights in kicking her lover out the home. If I do this then things might speed along a little bit. I don't want to be unreasonable but I think it is cos of my reasonable nature I have ended up in this mess.

4. What moves should I be making right now to speed things along, maximise my profits and minimise my losses. It is worth mentioning that I have no interest in moving out of my parents home at the minute. I am hoping to go to university in september and so I don't want and financial obligations.

I hope somebody can offer me some sound advice.

Thanks guys

MrsTinks

1. maybe - you really need to speak to the mortgage peeps about this and preferably a solicitor too!
2. no - the debt is in YOUR name thus it is solely your responcibility legally.
3. don't think so... however you have every legal right to move back into the house so long as you are on the deeds and the mortgage...
4. Post a full SOA on the DFW board - be aware that by not paying the card and letting your joint account go overdrawn you're damaging not only her credit rating but YOURS too... Be sensible and between you pay off the overdraft and close the account down - for BOTH yoursakes.
Then start paying off the credit card - unless you have a written contract with her then she has no legal obligation to pay any of this off...

For what it's worth then I think you should have sought legal advise a lot earlier before you stopped paying your half of the mortgage payments... But hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Deep_Ocean

MrsTine wrote: »

1. maybe - you really need to speak to the mortgage peeps about this and preferably a solicitor too!
2. no - the debt is in YOUR name thus it is solely your responcibility legally.
3. don't think so... however you have every legal right to move back into the house so long as you are on the deeds and the mortgage...
4. Post a full SOA on the DFW board - be aware that by not paying the card and letting your joint account go overdrawn you're damaging not only her credit rating but YOURS too... Be sensible and between you pay off the overdraft and close the account down - for BOTH yoursakes.
Then start paying off the credit card - unless you have a written contract with her then she has no legal obligation to pay any of this off...

For what it's worth then I think you should have sought legal advise a lot earlier before you stopped paying your half of the mortgage payments... But hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Thanks

Is there anything positive you could say tho :rotfl:

I did think that any debt you have in a marriage was joint responsibility. The credit card was taken out to pay for our wedding :mad:

I have learned a lot, so every cloud as a silver lining i guess.

In my position what would you be doing right now.

Right now i'm just relying on their morals and decency to do things fairly. I'l be more assertive in future.

Is it worth giving citizens advice a call, solicitors are too damn expensive.

Thank you for your reply :money:

DB9

she will have to sell the house or buy you out and give you half even if you have not paid the morgage. the reason is she has moved her new partner in to the property.

Deep_Ocean

DB9 wrote: »

she will have to sell the house or buy you out and give you half even if you have not paid the morgage. the reason is she has moved her new partner in to the property.

She is aware that she has to sell or buy me out. She has put the house on the market. But it's not hard to put potential buyers off. With a boystrous dog, neglected garden, untidy & cluttered home and a not so welcoming attitude potential buyers could easilly be pursuaded to look elsewhere.

I am not sure if she can claim back her repayments off the mortgage since I moved out. i.e if our mortgage is £1000 less now than it was when i stopped my payments, can she claim this £1000 back when the property is sold.

Thanks for your reply, it's appreciated :money:

mountainofdebt

1. As I left the home a year ago and have not made any mortgage contributions, am I still entitled to 50% of the property. The way I see it, I have 50% ownership to the home and therefore legally her lover should be renting my part of the property off me. But I doubt that the law will see this point of view. So what advice will be given to my ex-wife when she contacts her solicitor. And what advice would you guys give to me. Being a devil's advocate here, if the positions had been reversed (and I assume that your wife has been paying the entire mortgage on her own since you left) would you be willing to give her 50% without considering the mortgage payments you'd made? I'm not defending her but perhaps your share of the proceeds should be reduced by the mortgage payments made since you left.

2. Does my ex wife have any obligation to pay half of the credit card bill. I want to pay my half off but she is not willing to make any payments at ll until the house is sold. Morally I guess she should but legally she has none.

3. Do I have any rights in kicking her lover out the home. If I do this then things might speed along a little bit. I don't want to be unreasonable but I think it is cos of my reasonable nature I have ended up in this mess. Not sure on this one - although I doubt it as he could be considered a 'guest' of your wife's.

4. What moves should I be making right now to speed things along, maximise my profits and minimise my losses. It is worth mentioning that I have no interest in moving out of my parents home at the minute. I am hoping to go to university in september and so I don't want and financial obligations.
Not sure you can to be honest - although if you really did want to sell the house at any costs what about selling to one of those quick sell places

DB9

no she can not claim back payments as she has been living there. No one can live rent free.
You can also pay all your debts off when you get your settlement. It may not be 50/50 as there are children involved. Maybe 35/65
Regarding the garden, dont worry about it, sell the house fast and make a clean break. The courts will decide if you 2 dont.

MrsTinks

I guess to speed it up you could advise her you are moving back in, you want HIM out and you will help make the house presentable for sale (ie help increase it's value and salability) - OR she can buy you out.
I really would get some legal advise before doing anything - CAB might be able to direct you to a solicitor who can maybe give you a free half hour initial session...

Is there any good news? Well... you have your health
Sorry but divorces cost money, and if one partner isn't playing ball as much as the other then any split can be difficult.
Alternatively you could tell her that if she pays off the credit card and gives you what? £5k you'll sign the house over to her if she can put the mortgage in her name. Yes you might loose some money on that deal but no more than you're likely to loose in solicitors fee's I'd have thought?

Deep_Ocean

mountainofdebt wrote: »

1. As I left the home a year ago and have not made any mortgage contributions, am I still entitled to 50% of the property. The way I see it, I have 50% ownership to the home and therefore legally her lover should be renting my part of the property off me. But I doubt that the law will see this point of view. So what advice will be given to my ex-wife when she contacts her solicitor. And what advice would you guys give to me. Being a devil's advocate here, if the positions had been reversed (and I assume that your wife has been paying the entire mortgage on her own since you left) would you be willing to give her 50% without considering the mortgage payments you'd made? I'm not defending her but perhaps your share of the proceeds should be reduced by the mortgage payments made since you left.

Well to be honest I have helped her out a great deal. She is a part time shop assistant and so without me moving out and allowing her to live in my home with her new partner she would be stuck. She would not have been able to afford to live anywhere. I think it has been a nice gesture of mine to allow them to play happy families in my home.

Also as I own 50% of this property surely I am entitled to lease my 50% out. As her new lover is living in my 50% paying my ex wife rent, surely I am entitled to some of this rent that he is paying.

Also as mentioned he is staying in my home as a guest of my ex wife. Surely if I wanted to be difficult i could move back into my home with a guest of my own.

It could get silly. I just can't help but feel i am going to screwed again and again. I should have sold the property a year ago when I would have got a conciderable amount more for the property rather than worry about where my ex wife would be living. Being nice really does get you nowhere sometimes. People just walk all over you.

From the advice you guys are giving from neutral point of view, she is in a good legal position. If tht is the case maybe I should start asserting myself and say that if she wishes to continue living with her new baby with her new partner in my home she must sign a contract saying that she will take half the credit card and give me half the profits of the home. If she refuses then maybe I should move back in witha guest of my own. As it is close to christmas she will not want her new family disrupted.

As I have said previously I dont want to get childish but I want what is morally mine. What would you guys do in my position???????

Deep_Ocean

DB9 wrote: »

no she can not claim back payments as she has been living there. No one can live rent free.
You can also pay all your debts off when you get your settlement. It may not be 50/50 as there are children involved. Maybe 35/65
Regarding the garden, dont worry about it, sell the house fast and make a clean break. The courts will decide if you 2 dont.

There is only 1 child involved which is from her new partner so surely everything is still split 50-50.

Is there anything i should be doing now to protect myself from anything such as contracts etc

Deep_Ocean

MrsTine wrote: »

I guess to speed it up you could advise her you are moving back in, you want HIM out and you will help make the house presentable for sale (ie help increase it's value and salability) - OR she can buy you out.
I really would get some legal advise before doing anything - CAB might be able to direct you to a solicitor who can maybe give you a free half hour initial session...

Is there any good news? Well... you have your health
Sorry but divorces cost money, and if one partner isn't playing ball as much as the other then any split can be difficult.
Alternatively you could tell her that if she pays off the credit card and gives you what? £5k you'll sign the house over to her if she can put the mortgage in her name. Yes you might loose some money on that deal but no more than you're likely to loose in solicitors fee's I'd have thought?

Hahaha, yes I have my health and a wonderful girlfriend :beer:

My ex cant afford to buy me out. She wont touch credit card. She has got nowhere to live if house is sold. It is going to go on forever I fear :eek: