what is he entitled too?

need_hope

My husband walked out on me 5 months ago. We were married for 18 months, but he moved into my house 8 years ago. We have no children together and all I want is a clean break but I feel its going to cost me part of my house in a divorce. The house is and always has been in my name and the mortgage has always been paid from my bank account. I dont think it fair that he can have a share of my house when he came to me with absolutely nothing. No even a job for two years. IS this something anyone can advice me on please?

BitterAndTwisted

Apart from the mortgage being paid from your bank account did he ever pay you any money towards it? Or anything that could later be construed as a contribution? Did he do any repairs, maintenance or improvements himself or pay anything towards them?

Gigglepig

Have you spoken to a solicitor?

If he has lived in your house for 8 years, as your partner and not a lodger, and contributed to the household in some way (paid bills, food, done house work etc etc) in don't think it is unfair that he gets a share.

perhaps look at the equity you have now, subtract the equity you had 8 years ago, and suggest that he gets a proportion of that.

need_hope

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Apart from the mortgage being paid from your bank account did he ever pay you any money towards it? Or anything that could later be construed as a contribution? Did he do any repairs, maintenance or improvements himself or pay anything towards them?

Thank you for your reply....

Yes he started to pay something after a few years living there. He also re decorated the bathroom.

But I cannot afford any more mortgage so where would I be expected to get the money from??

need_hope

Gigglepig wrote: »

Have you spoken to a solicitor?

If he has lived in your house for 8 years, as your partner and not a lodger, and contributed to the household in some way (paid bills, food, done house work etc etc) in don't think it is unfair that he gets a share.

perhaps look at the equity you have now, subtract the equity you had 8 years ago, and suggest that he gets a proportion of that.

Thank you for taking the time to reply..

I did suggest that he have half of the profit made on the house in eights years but he just laughed at me !

I am worried that if this goes to court I could be looking at paying out 10's of thousands when quite frankly I havent got it or the ability to obtain it.

benb76

When did he start paying? This is critical as that's where you can start calculating equity from. If it was around 2007 (when house prices peaked) then you're laughing as your house is likely to be worth less today and any capital repayments on your mortgage (which he's effectively contributed towards) will have been wiped out by the loss in value of the property.

dirtysexymonkey

need_hope wrote: »

Thank you for your reply....

Yes he started to pay something after a few years living there. He also re decorated the bathroom.

But I cannot afford any more mortgage so where would I be expected to get the money from??

when you say redecorated do you mean just painting or are we talking about a new bathroom?

how much did this cost him? how much proportionally did he pay over the 8 years towards living costs? 50% of the cost? 20%? 70%?

flutterby_lil

This may sound harsh but it is not meant to be - the solicitor or your ex would look at that as your problem (where you would get the money from) and not look at that.

I agree he should get some proportion for living with you and contributing to the household.

I live with my OH of almost 3 years. The house is in his name (mortgaged) but he is soon to remortgage with me on it. He also has another house which is being done up, again in his name which hehad before he met me - i said something about wills etc the other day and my pension and the fact that HE has two houses for future security, he corrected me and said, no, we have two houses! This really touched me. If we were to split up, I would never expect a lot of money from him. Ipay towards bill, do the housework and have contributed money to converting the attic, having the bathroom done etc but the majority of the equity is his.

If we were to split up I would expect him to help me set up elsewhere and take a bit of money from him to provide for myself and his child that I am currently carrying, and also to pay for new furniture as I paid for a lot that is in the house but he was well over £100k equity that I would never expect half from or anything, £10,000 would keep me happy. I brought nothing to the start of the relationship financially like he did with 2 houses, but I bring him a bl00dy lot of happiness and love and know he wouldbe fair if we were to split.

So really your Ex DH is probably thinking along these lines and that he deserves something for what he has put into the house.

BitterAndTwisted

He started to pay "something" after a few years living there: while he was unemployed he paid nothing and was presumably being supported totally by the OP.

Whether that "something" was 50% of the mortgage and all other outgoings is not known. By the sounds of things that two years unemployed should cancel out whatever he put into the joint pot. That's the position I'd take until a court forced me to do otherwise.

macman

Surely what is relevant is what he has invested in the property in the last 18m. What he did before marriage is not important-he has no 'common law' rights to a share of the equity in the property prior to marriage. These rights do not exist-he was effectively just a lodger.

dirtysexymonkey

macman wrote: »

Surely what is relevant is what he has invested in the property in the last 18m. What he did before marriage is not important-he has no 'common law' rights to a share of the equity in the property prior to marriage. These rights do not exist-he was effectively just a lodger.

not so. if he paid towards the house regardless of marriage then that is what counts.