Please help re:divorce

divorceishard

Hi, im fairly new to this so please bear with me....

Ill explain my situation, ive been seperated (not living together) for 10 years now. My ex-husband still lives in the marital home and we both own it. The house is worth about £220k but in the last 10 years has probably lost about £40k (as a direct result of his lifestyle) in valuation so only around £180k now. For the past 10 years and also previously i have been paying the mortgage and he hasnt contributed a penny.

We have 2 children who are both over 18 but again he hasnt contributed a penny to theyre upbringing.

He is a violent man which is why i moved out and the reason i have kept paying the mortgage is because i dont want to default and also i dont know where that would leave me legally, also it would no doubt be provocation for him to come to my workplace and become violent.

My situation is different from most as i am the highest earner in the marriage and have always been and i have a good sized pension, whereas he has nothing at all apart from the equity in the house.

Im worried because if i file for divorce is he entitled to claim on my pension or other assets even though he has contributed nothing, i can also prove this as the mortgage has been paid from my account since we got it.

The other assets i mentioned relate to my mothers house in france which was aquired via inheritance 3 years ago, and not while we were in any kind of relationship.

He is a very clever man and will use every single power he has legally to either take as much from me as he can, or delay the process for so long that the legal bills are ridiculous. He was declared bankrupt in 2008 and has been fighting it ever since to such a degree it is in the court of appeals at the moment but his legal bill and bankruptcy liability has risen to aroung £70k, so almost all of his equity in the house.

Having my social status as 'married' or 'divorced' is of no importance to me but i want to sell the house, and ive been advised the only way i can sell the house without his consent is by divorcing him. Is this correct?

Basically i find it hard to believe that a judge would award him anything more than 50% of the house, considering he hasnt contributed at all, not even for the kids upbringing. I have no problem letting him keep 50% of the proceeds of the house i just dont want to lose any of my pension which i have worked hard for, and morally he has no entitlement to.

CAN ANYONE HELP PLEASE I AM SO WORRIED ABOUT THIS.

The main questions id like to know are...

1) If i divorce him can he take my pension?

2) If i divorce him does he have a claim to an asset aquired after we seperated, also this asset is not in the uk and i dont believe he has any knowledge of it.

3) Where do i stand legally if default on the property?

4) I know he cant afford to make ANY kind of payment so what if i changed my payment to half? Would i be LEGALLY any better off than just defaulting completely?

5) How can i get out of this situation with minimal damage?

Please help...

Thanks

LannieDuck

I can't help with any of the specifics but wanted to point out that, even if he does manage to claim some of your pension, you might be no worse off than you are now since at the moment you're paying the full mortgage every month for a property you have no access to.

daska

Even if the Court orders that the house be sold, you still have get him to vacate because while he's still living there he could make a sale impossible.

Assuming you do manage to get him out and sell the property and he gets part of your pension could you could use part or all of the money you save on the mortgage to pay into another pension to offset this?

RAS

Hi

You need to see a solicitor and a good one urgently.

The longer you leave this divorce the greater the assets and they could consider those built up since the separation like the larger pension pot and the house in France.

Do you have an up to date will? Is the house a joint tenancy, because if so, he will inherit it if you die, regardless of what is in the will.

missimaxo

If he is bankrupt - has the trustee in bankruptcy not been in touch about the property. They have 3 years in which to deal with the property and they would act on his behalf thus you would not need your husband's permission to sell - the trustee in bankruptcy would deal with it all.

If it gets to nearly 3 years, the trustee will either apply for a sale of the property or apply for a charge on the property. Either way - in respect of the property it will be them you should be dealing with - not your ex.

RAS

well spotted - OP - go to the Insolvency Register and find out who the OR is. Contact them.

missimaxo

Hmmm.... not that well spotted - OP said he was bankrupt in 2008 (which I missed on a first reading!) therefore the 3 year rule has already passed therefore I presume the trustee will have already taken some action. And it may have been transferred to an external Insolvency Practitioner Trustee to deal with rather than the OR (Official Receiver) - especially if the ex is complicating things by fighting it and there is potentially a significant amount of equity in the asset.

NAR

OP you mention a figure of £220k, is this taking into account house prices dropping since 2007?

The main answer to your question is that when it comes to financial settlement ALL assets have to be declared and split in the Financial Consent Order. Had you had a clean break settlement before your inheritance he would not have been able to touch it. This may not be the case now, your solicitor will advise. Almost certainly he is entitled to a pension split.

When it is settled it would be interesting if his creditors were to become aware of his windfall!

divorceishard

Hi all again, thanks for the many replies its good to hear what people have to say regarding the matter. Let me fill you in on some more details.

When i moved in 2002 the house was worth approx £250k. As a result of the recession/housing market slump the house today would be worth £210-£220k IF it was in good condition. As a direct result of him the house has lost approximately £40-50K in value by such things as leaving the house open and people breaking in and stealing things, to such an extent they stole the water tank and all pipes. I know what youre thinking and YES to me the house is uninhabitable, no gas, no heating, no water supply, and barely any electricity....so you must all be thinking WHY would he want to cling on to it as he is doing at the moment. Im thinking the same thing....

With regards to the bankruptcy, he was made bankrupt in 2008, and then somehow managed to appeal to annul in 2010, which was unsuccessful. The Official Reciever waited until about 2 months shy of 3 years to make a possesision order which has happened already. The County Court gave him an eviction date which was in november. The day he was supposed to be evicted he filed an appeal at the high court for leave to appeal the original bankruptcy order. This also meant that he was given a stay in the house until the case was heard before a judge. The judge took half an hour to refuse the appeal and refused him permission to appeal any further. As a result the trustees have made another application for eviction and this has been granted for the end of this month. However again he has made an appeal to the court of appeals for permission to appeal, as he was refused it by the high court judge, and no doubt he will be refused again, and appeal again. The court of appeal appeals does not allow a stay order whilst he is waiting for the result, so as things stand he has an eviction order for the end of march and an ongoing appeal at the court of appeal.

I have spoken to the trustee and its my belief although he hasnt told me directly, is that they will NOT enforce ANY eviction order until the result of the court of appeal, even though legally they could do so. I believe they are worried that if by some miracle he wins his appeal, and they evict him in the interim, that they would be liable to a damages claim/lawsuit against them. I can understand this but this doesnt help me at all.

With regards to the court of appeal process i have done some research on the matter and i think things happen like this. Please bear in mind if he can appeal any decision in any way he will, just to waste the courts time and also stay longer in the house. But the situation at the moment is he has filed his appelants notice at the court of appeal, asking for permission to appeal, and its my understanding that a judge will look at the case and make a decision whether or not to give permission to appeal and notify him by letter, so at this stage no court hearings. If the answer is NO then i believe he can appeal that decision and then present a case before a panel of 2-3 judges. If he is told NO at this hearing its my understanding he cannot appeal any further to anyone with regards to the bankruptcy.

What would your advice to me be? To let the proceedings roll ahead and just wait for the outcome? What if he is successful does that put us back to square one with regards to the house?

Also, everytime he appeals it is obviously costing money, he is on JSA and the costs everytime are being added to the bankruptcy order, which most be totalling around £70k right now......where do i stand if he goes over the amount of equity he has in the house which is probably about £80k. Do i then become liable aswell or is my 50% equity protected as i am in no way connected to the bankruptcy, only the house is in both our names.

Is it really possible in this country that you can treat your wife as a slave, abuse her mentally and violently, not contribute anything, not pay the mortgage, fail your business and career, and still end up taking half of her pension?

Also i remember someone saying COULD he have contributed? Well the answer is yes as until 2008 he ran a successful business but as a sole trader when he was declared bankrupt he was effectively put out of business....

Any thoughts or information is more than welcome if not needed, thanks

daska

It seems to me that you need to get legal advice surrounding his ability to dispose of jointly owned assets. It could be that without getting a financial Order to secure your share of the house he could continue racking up legal bills until there is no equity left. Also as to whether the debts already secured against the house will be counted as part of his settlement or taken off the value of the house before calculating his share.

You really need to seek good legal advice on this matter.

missimaxo

I cannot advise in respect of the courts process... only in the case of the bankruptcy. If a house is jointly owned, the trustee's starting position is 50/50 therefore when the house is sold (presumably at auction due to the repossession/ state the house is in) then you will get 50% of the sale proceeds and this is protected. You can argue with the trustee that you should get greater than 50% of the equity (and from your post I would recommend you do this - evidencing the fact you have paid the mortgage). If the costs of the bankruptcy exceed his "share" be it 50% or less - then that is not your problem, and they cannot come after you for any more.

If an order for the sale of the property has been granted, then I don't think it would be any quicker for you to try and go down your own route - you will also have the problem of actually trying to evict him. TBH I would let the trustee fight this battle and foot the costs. The trustee's costs get paid first before any money goes to his creditors, so if it costs them £50,000 to get him out - they will get this back.
Leaving the property for as long as they did is usual BTW. They hope that in the 3 years, people will raise the funds to buy out the trustee and/ or it will increase in value/decrease in mortgage so there is a bigger pot to claim on.
Do you know on what grounds he appealed the bankruptcy? I presume it is "ought not to be made" rather than "payment in full" as the latter would be too costly.