Still entitled to half?

Fire_Fox

If you haven't paid into the house - mortgage or maintenance - you will be unlikely to be entitled to half of the asset. You may be entitled to a proportion but, unless this was specified as part of the divorce, you will have to demonstrate the value of the equity at the time of the split.

Baz-n-Lin

Thank you for your helpful replies. I would just like to say in answer to some of the other replies that I did not squander any money even though I had nothing except the clothes I wore, bankruptcy came following loss of job and poor health. Leaving my son was by no means easy nor were the constant threats that he would move away with my son and I would never see him again, something I was advised by solicitors I could not prevent with the UK. Please do not judge me when you know nothing of the situation I was in.

mark55man

hostile posters now scurry away - tail between their legs.

OP - good luck - I would have to say its worth a try if for no other reason than you know one way or another - from my perspective if your OH has been supported by the state and not paying his own way my sympathy is not with him. however it is a long time ago - perhaps you could try citizens advice or something

only caution - not sure about bankruptcy - but would they have any claim if you are successful?

terrierlady

i too left in 1986 with just the clothes on my back, my ex husband still has the property plus everything in it, no divorce issues except no order ever made of what would happen to the property once kids grown up, many women loose out not all of us are gold diggers but we still should be entitled to some money from all the years we put in to pay for the property.

chappers

If your name is still on the deeds you may have a claim to the procedes of a sale, these would probably be proportional to your contributions towards the purchase and the mortgage, the proportion paid in benefits would be your ex-husbands equity and not yours as he was the claimant.
whether you could force a sale after all this time is doubtful and something to be answered by a solicitor.

pinkshoes

You will probably be entitled to half the equity increase from when you first started paying half the mortgage, and until when you stopped and moved out. Going back 30 years, I'm thinking this entitlement is going to be very little, and would probably cost more in legal bills than you're set to gain. This would explain why the bankruptcy people weren't interested, as your entitlement was so little it wasn't worth the effort!

If your ex continued to pay the mortgage, then it's up to him what he does with his share.

RobertoMoir

terrierlady wrote: »

i too left in 1986 with just the clothes on my back, my ex husband still has the property plus everything in it, no divorce issues except no order ever made of what would happen to the property once kids grown up, many women loose out not all of us are gold diggers but we still should be entitled to some money from all the years we put in to pay for the property.

Fully agree that the OP should be entitled to a portion of the house equal to what they paid in. If they didn't pay off half the mortgage though then this is unlikely to be half the property, possibly half the amount they had paid jointly up to the separation sounds fair to me. Not that fairness has anything to do with the law these days.

CLAPTON

In my view (and I apologise in advance to the other posters) but nobody here, including me, have any real idea about the legal situation.

I would strongly suggest you speak to the CAB and get legal advice.

neas

have you got any more details?

Like for example ... i know its a long time ago but back in 1970...

What was the price of the house? How much deposit did you jointly put down as a couple... and how long did you pay into it?

For example if you had 5% deposit.. and only paid mortgage for 1 year.. then i;d say your share was around 2.5-3% of house sale... (half of deposit plus maybe a bit more). ofc u should seek proper advice

Baz-n-Lin

Thank you for all your help and advice. I will contact the CAB to check further and will post here in due course to let you know. Happy New Year