Deed of Trust - made under duress- is it legal?

far2812

Hi All

Scenario:
Best friend (let's say Sarah) with partner (Ben) for 10 years
Very emotionally abusive relationship
Purchased house together - she put £5,000 deposit - he put £20,000 deposit
He took her to solicitor to sign Deed of Trust that he get 75% share of house - she gets 25% share when sold

They both continue to pay equal monthly payments on the mortgage.

2 children are born.
Sarah is forced to leave and go into Sheltered accomodation provided by Women's Aid and thereafter is helped by Women's Aid and other services to re-home herself and her children.

Can she now dispute that the "deed of trust" was made under duress? Ben didn't hold a knife to her throat but she was coerced totally to sign the original document?

I certainly think she can but wondered what you clever people think? x

findingmyownway

Emotional abuse aside, he contributed 80% of deposit to her 20%... so Deed of Trust giving 75%/25% shares seems very fair on the face of it (as they contributed equally to mortgage)

Why is she choosing to dispute it now?

Edited to add: Of course this is only one way of looking at it. It would probably have been fairer to look at the % of total price which each contributed. Eg:

His deposit - £20,000
Her deposit - £5,000
Mortgage - £175,000 (£87,500 each)

Would give a % split of 54% v 46% as the effect of the deposit is weakened by the large mortage. But it seems a bit later to argue that point now...

NAR

You say 10 year relationship but don't say when house was purchased. Sounds like early in relationship before children were born. She agreed to the trust based on the deposits one presumes. What grounds would she have to say it was done under duress?

He may well have become abusive in latter years, but that will not affect the agreement she signed early in the relationship.

Legal advice required is my suggestion.

jackyann

Definitely legal advice. She has already had contact with Womens Aid, who usually have contacts with solicitors who are sympathetic to women in this situation and experienced at dealing with it; so I would ask them rather than pick one out of Yellow Pages.
Also start gathering evidence: conversations with friends & family (such as you) especially if there is any "record" such as a letter, email, or even a diary entry.

RAS

I assume that they were not married? A divorce would have been much more in her favour.

far2812

They purchased the house 5 years into the relationship! He was a very controlling man and still is! And to be honest, she didn't really understand that she was signing that percentage of the house away. She thought it was a document agreeing that the amount of deposits they both put in would be retrievable if the relationship was to break, or the house sell.

No RAS, they never married.

guruchelles

Don't know if it helps, but I signed a Deed of Trust with my (then) husband and his mother (who had contributed some deposit). When we came to divorce my understanding of the deed of trust did come into account (ie, whether I knew what was going on). Turns out the conveyance (their family friend) vouched that I did know what was going on so the deed stood.

The judge did still manage to wangle things so that I got 50%, but there were three of us to share between.

far2812

Wow that's interesting guruchelles - did the judge mention the Deed and why he was overturning the decision?

NAR

far2812 wrote: »

And to be honest, she didn't really understand that she was signing that percentage of the house away.

That may be quite difficult to prove; the onus was on her to understand what she was signing.

tyllwyd

I think she should definitely get advice from a solicitor - the circumstances have changed since the deed of trust was signed, especially since they have children.

pesky85

I would think the courts would accept that she signed the paperwork under duress. Being helped to leave the relationship by Women's Aid will leave a paperwork trail therefore pretty tangible evidence of an abusive relationship.

They would also financially want to ensure she was fairly treated as I assume she has full custody of the children? They would definitely take that into account.