Taking name off mortgage and protecting equity

Monocle

Hi

Paul and Sara (both in their mid-40s) split up just over a year ago. Married for 17 years. Two pre-teen children.

Joint mortgage of £110K on current property (there for 10 years). Valued at about £160K.

Sara works full-time, earning about £22K. Paul was working part-time (£7.5K) but has just been made redundant.

Sara took over paying the mortgage when Paul left. She now wants to renegotiate the mortgage and her broker has suggested taking Paul’s name off (which Paul is happy to agree to). She’s now blocking that and has refused to give Paul the broker’s contact details. We suspect she wants to keep Paul on the mortgage and force him to pay, but he’s in no position to do that.

Can she insist he remains on the mortgage?

Although Paul can no longer contribute to the mortgage, he wishes to protect his share of the equity (having contributed for 10 years). Sara would be unable to buy him out, and so he’d have to wait until the house is sold (some years away as the kids are young).

How can Paul go about protecting his share? I suspect he can’t force a sale because of the kids. Is this correct?

Thank you.
Regards
Monica

happybroker

Paul really needs to speak to a lawyer who specialises in this field, he may qualify for legal aid given his position, then at least he will have all possible outcomes formally confirmed to him which would be best I feel.