Joint mortgage/endowment and separation

Bigboybyrne

Advice please, I have a joint morgage & endowment for the last 10 years with the wife to whome I have been married to for 6. She has now decided that she wants to leave me. We have a 3 year old son & she earns next to nothing a month. We have over 70k of equity in the property. I want to sell & split the money, she wants to kick me out so that the government can help her pay the morgage cos they wont if she tried to get a new morgage if we sell & split. Can she get me to leave with nothing?

zzzLazyDaisy

You need to think about your child. Whatever has gone on between you and your wife, the child still needs a home. Will the child be living with you, or your wife, after the split?

To answer your question, yes it is very common for the courts to say that the mother is entitled to stay in the home until the child leaves full-time education.

Do you work? Do you have a pension? If so, you will have to pay maintenance for your child (you can work out how much from the CSA website) and if you divorce she will be entitled to a share of your pension pot.

You need to see a solicitor, as she should. But you should prepare yourself for the fact that if she is going to be the parent with care of your young child, she will need a home, and money.

Bigboybyrne

Thanks for the advice.
My son will be staying with her. I have a very good income & a very very good pension. So I could be asked to leave the home with nothing? Will the house stil be in joint names?

zzzLazyDaisy

Every case is different. You really need to see a solicitor.

All I would say is, do whatever it takes to come to a reasonable agreement because if it goes to court, the legal fees will be considerable (my cuz went through a divorce from her high earning ex, who refused to pay a penny or to budge an inch on anything. It went to court and She got the house and maintenance for herself and for her children. He kept his pension but he got stuck with his own legal fees and hers as well - over £30,000 all told.)

castle96

it may be that she (only !!) gets the house until kids 18 ?, then sold. Prepare for a world of pain. Every man will tell you this. You get stuffed. See a good solicitor. I have a very good CSA practitioner contact if you need one (pm me).
OK, you expect to pay for your kids (reasonable amount), but not for her.
My Court experience was a shame/woman orientated. A few tears went a long way for my ex.

Bigboybyrne

R man this well sucks, its bad enough i'm not guna see my boy every day & its her that wants to break up. we need a new law in place & then maybe people would try harder to sort out there issues as this seems an easy way out for woman. Where do i stand if i apply for custody? or will this just lead to more pain if i fail. Man i am so gutted.

Rikki

You soon to be ex needs to know that the DHSS will not pay all the mortgage. Only the interest part and ONLY her half.

The mortgage company will not release you from the mortgage unless your ex can apply for the mortgage in her sole name. She will need to increase the mortgage to release your share of the equity. The title deeds will remain in joint names.
You will struggle to get a new mortgage if you still have the existing mortgage.

The court can force the sale of the home giving your ex a portion of the equity to start again.

It is more complicated than your ex wife thinks. You need legal advice for your own peace of mind too.

dimbo61

Your wife will get custody of your son
You will have to pay 15% of your net take home pay until your son is 19
she will get a larger portion /equity in the family home because thats the way the courts do it and also takes into account that you have a good pension.
Did you own the house before you got together ?
Is she having an affair ?
Has she ever paid towards the mortgage ? or worked ?
Get yourself a good male solictor
If you leave and why should you walk out of the home you are paying for, she will get working tax credit ( over 16 hours) child tax credit, child benefit. child maintence off you 15%, Income support ( if not working) and housing benefit,
council tax benefit.
plus legal aid to take you to the cleaners.
The more days( nights) you have your son the less CSA you will have to pay so dont be surprised if she stops you having access because it upsets your son to much !!!
You have to get court agreed access and take her back to court each time she breaks the court agreement

Dick_here

Let her have the house (i.e. pay the mortgage herself) and pay child maintenance of course, but you get the endowment assigned to yourself so that it'll pay you out alone. Then you can surrender it, take out a loan on it to help you now, or keep it until maturity. Her life cover will remain if you keep it.

zzzLazyDaisy

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

Let her have the house (i.e. pay the mortgage herself) and pay child maintenance of course, but you get the endowment assigned to yourself so that it'll pay you out alone. Then you can surrender it, take out a loan on it to help you now, or keep it until maturity. Her life cover will remain if you keep it.

Don't do this until you have spoken to a solicitor. If you do that the endowment will count as an asset and fall to be consider in the joint pot when dividing up the assets anyway.

I know I keep saying this, but you need to see a solicitor pronto.

castle96

and by the way, keep your chin up mate. I know you will suffer a lot of heartache to come, re your child (and of course over money and court appearances). Join an online fathers support group so you can let off steam - you will need to ! Keep a good relationship with your child (as best you can). 20 yrs ago this happened to me (sons were 9/7/4) and I still feel the pain of the missed 'ordinary times'. you know - bedtime/stories/weekends - the quality times. I see the 'weekend/McDonalds' fathers now, and feel so sorry for them.