What am I entitled to when we sell our house.

davidjclements

My wife and I have just split up, as she has had an affair and are selling our house. This is likely to go through before any divorce proceedings. I have moved into rented accomodation taking very little with me, she is still in the house.
She has three children from a previous marriage, none are mine.

When we bought the house I paid the deposit around £28,000 using money from the sale of my own house, she put no money in. We weren't married at this time but have since.
Once the house is sold there will be between £15000 - £30000 equity to split.

1) Will the fact that I put all the money into the house affect how much I am entitled to.

2) Although the children aren't mine will this affect my entitlement.

3) If we agree a settlement (which is likely) is there any easy and cheap way to guard against her then asking for more when the divorce happens.

Obviously I realise that each case is different and there is no definate answer to all these questions, but a rough idea of what my entitlements could be would give me a starting point. Thank You.

CH27

Welcome to MSE. If your username is your real name change it.

Go & see a solicitor. Nobody here knows all your details & therefore cannot give you a true answer.

custardy

Have to agree
given the money involved,you need proper legal advice

clearingout

you need a solicitor's advice and ultimately, to keep her from coming back with more, you need a Consent Order or if you can't agree what to do with the money by consent, you will need to drag it through court to get an Order based on a judge's judgement (if you get me!).

Much will depend on how long you were together, I think. If you didn't take steps to protect your money going in, I think you will most likely struggle to get it back. You will both need re-housing and your wife will need a bigger property if she has children to worry about as well - you will need to take this into consideration at some level when discussing with her. As long as you are able to come to some arrangement between you and you have both had legal advice, you should get a judge to sign it off for you. Try wikivorce.com for more information.

Pee

Completely agree with the going to see a solicitor, especially because the children may be classed as children of the family and that might make a difference. Getting married is a really expensive thing to do...

pinkshoes

davidjclements wrote: »

1) Will the fact that I put all the money into the house affect how much I am entitled to.

2) Although the children aren't mine will this affect my entitlement.

3) If we agree a settlement (which is likely) is there any easy and cheap way to guard against her then asking for more when the divorce happens.

Is her name on the deeds?
Has she been contributing towards the property at all?
Did you adopt her children?

I'd imagine it would be treated as a straightforward divorce with no children if you are not their legal guardian. If you can prove you provided the deposit, then I imagine this would be treated as a %, then you would get this % back, then half of any equity after that.