divorce and assets, under a year

Gloomendoom

Unless, as in this case, a marriage is short, even without any interest registered with the land registry the house is considered the marital home and as such both parties have a share in it.

However, registering an interest with the land registry is very important if the couple are not married.

I must point out that I am no lawyer either, I'm going on my own experience of divorce.

paddy's_mum

when_will_it_end wrote: »

my friend put him on his deeds 2 months ago so now the partner has a 50% share in his house also

I'm surprised that your friend has managed to accumulate any wealth at all if he is as naive and unwary as the current situation seems to suggest.

He needs legal advice from a solicitor specialising in this area. Did he not have one to draw up the "putting (him) on the deeds" paperwork? Please don't tell us that he's gone blindly into writing up some slip of paper without seeking legal advice and the consent of any mortgage company or bank involved!

From the line quoted above, it would appear to me that the spouse is already an owner of the property to the tune of 50%. The betterment point of view is a complete non-starter in these circumstances since the spouse is not claiming something to which he currently has no right - the rights were given to him when your friend gifted part of the property to him. As it was given -presumably - from natural love and affection and without duress of any kind, I fail to see why any court in the land would overturn the joint ownership.

If changing your mind later was 'pursueable' through the law at a later date, the courts would be clogged solid with disgruntled pals, parents, shoppers, fiancees, old school chums .....

gizmo111

A short marriage the courts will look to put the parties back in the position they were before the marriage. The deeds thing is irrelevant - the court will look at how the marital assets have increased during the marriage and split them 50/50 - so the partner will get 50% of any increased net worth over the past year.
Good advice can be found on www.ondivorce.co.uk but your friend will need a solicitor to confirm his position.

when_will_it_end

thanks everyone
he has been married (civil partnership) for 10 months
he put his partner on the morgage/deeds 4 weeks ago, then everything changed, yes he was to trusting, nieve, love blind what ever else, his wealth is from near death some years ago

i went through what they had together as in material things, it does not amount to much as friend was already set up
the partner moved out of the flat he part owns with his ex to live with friend, that flat is now let out
his last words to my friend were you will regret the day you gave me 50% of your house i will take you for half of everything
now his money is mostly tied up in other investments, i am not even sure if he knows about them all, i am presuming and hoping that he will not have any claim on these

thanks all

paddy's_mum

I really don't wish to be rude but it appears to me that you are getting in way over your head and simply don't have the knowledge to understand what all this chaos involves.

You can't just "put someone on the mortgage", honestly. It needs the formal consent of the mortgage company, the correct paperwork for the Land Registry and the Inland Revenue drawn up, signed, certified and submitted etc, etc ...

Although I appreciate that divorce (civil partnership) judges have great latitude of action to ensure fair play, I cannot conceive that any judge can set aside the gift your friend made to his spouse of half the house. It wasn't conditional upon the marriage, it wasn't an inducement to marry. It was a gift and in my eyes is inviolable ie it cannot be withdrawn by the giver as a result of the receiver's later bad behaviour.

If a previous boyfriend gave me a small tree which has over the years grown to be a handsome specimen and the said boyfriend now has a new garden in need of 'furnishing', should he be allowed to revoke the gift because he and I have since split, gone our separate ways, and come and dig up the tree?

I can only repeat what I and others have said. Your friend is in urgent need of quality legal advice. Good luck and I hope it works out for the best for everyone.