Joint endowment policy with ex-partner

dixiedoodles

Does anyone know anything about having a joint endowment policy and life assurance with an ex-partner?
I was in a relationship for 9 years (not married) and we bought a house in 1994. In 1997 we took out a joint endowment policy. The relationship broke up in 2000 and as I could not afford to buy him out, I moved out. All legal matters were,I had assumed dealt with - I got half the increase in price the house had accrued from the time we had bought it and I signed over the deeds and mortgage (looking back, I was very naive, but just wanted away from the relationship). I had completely forgot there was an endowment policy until the ex asked me to sign a deed of assignment form. He has made payments since I moved out and wants me to sign the lot over to him.
The endowment was not mentioned on any legal stuff we signed and sure enough,after checking with the company, I am still on the forms as joint owner.
I've been saddled with student loans that my ex encouraged me to take out, and feel I have some rights here - even though I have not contributed since leaving. As I will not sign the forms, he states he will take legal action to get my name removed and get back payments from me - I would have contributed had I known the policy existed!
Any advice ???

AndyWallace

dixiedoodles wrote: »

Does anyone know anything about having a joint endowment policy and life assurance with an ex-partner?
I was in a relationship for 9 years (not married) and we bought a house in 1994. In 1997 we took out a joint endowment policy. The relationship broke up in 2000 and as I could not afford to buy him out, I moved out. All legal matters were,I had assumed dealt with - I got half the increase in price the house had accrued from the time we had bought it and I signed over the deeds and mortgage (looking back, I was very naive, but just wanted away from the relationship). I had completely forgot there was an endowment policy until the ex asked me to sign a deed of assignment form. He has made payments since I moved out and wants me to sign the lot over to him.
The endowment was not mentioned on any legal stuff we signed and sure enough,after checking with the company, I am still on the forms as joint owner.
I've been saddled with student loans that my ex encouraged me to take out, and feel I have some rights here - even though I have not contributed since leaving. As I will not sign the forms, he states he will take legal action to get my name removed and get back payments from me - I would have contributed had I known the policy existed!
Any advice ???

I'd be inclined to agree with your ex partner as you have not contributed to the policy. You had some equity from the house when you split and the policy was worthless. It should have been assigned on seperation but I'm sure your ex didn't want you to lose the benefit of any life insurance.

CLAPTON

i would take the view that you were entitled to a share based on the period you were together

so if the policy was taken out in 1997 and you separated in 2000 and then he has paid since then it would seem fair that your share based on the present value should be

= (3/2 )/10 i.e. 3/20 so 15%
(i.e you share equally the first 3 years and he has the last 7 years fully)

i'm sure a judge would agree.

silvercar

I agree with Clapton's logic except that the value of the policy in 2000 would have been less than the payments put in- commission being high in the early years and returns on endowment policies being very low.

Search out the statement that would have arrived in 2001 and the value of the policy at that time. I reckon on you rightfully receiving a payment of half that value.

JoeK_3

I would take great care here as endowment policies have a front end charging structure to pay for setting up fees and for this reason you might find that the figures paid into the policy were a lot more than the policy was worth at the time.

This could mean that there was a debt there at the time that you left and if you persue this, you could find that you may have to pay your ex-partner out, as this was not taken into consideration at the time of split.

Contact the insurance company and ask them for the surrender value at the time of split.

Then it's a simple case of how much did you pay into the policy divided by 2 less the surrender value divided by 2.

JoeK