separation advice needed concerning house (not married)

fluffy*giraffe*

morning everyone, i will give you all the info i have and hopefully someone can shed some light on the situation!

a family member has been told by his partner to leave the family home.
no reason given just wants him to go.
they have children.
they have been together for 20 years.
bought the house together but she convinced him to put in her name early on in relationship.
his name is on the endowment policy.
he has paid mortgage money into her account(standing order) and she pays mortgage.
her name is on all bills.
he is not on electoral role

she has brainwashed him into thinking people are after him for money all this time (he had a car in his younger days he didnt pay for) so it is like he doesnt exist!

very basic outline of the situation but we dont know why she is doing this or why she wants him out so fast.

this all started about 2 weeks ago. he is not concerned about money just wants the kids to be ok but i am trying to be practical

thanks in advance

VfM4meplse

Interesting post....but there will be a reason that the g/f wants your friend to leave, even if you don't know about it. Which may or may not be relevant to the answers you get.

I'm really surprised your friend isn't on the electoral roll - how come? Is there a literacy issue, or is there some kind of dodge involved? Like not declaring residency to gain benefits, council tax advantages etc. If it is benefits, then the kids probably will be ok - not brilliant mind, just not starving. Of course none of this is my business, but again could affect the applicability of future answers.

RAS

If his name is not on the deeds this is going to be very difficult so he needs a lawyer fast, although evidence of the payments by standing order may help.

Please tell him that in Scotland debts "die" after 5 years. In the rest of the nation creditors cannot pursue unsecured debts after 6 years non-payment unless they have already got a CCJ and if they fail to enforce the CCJ within 6 years, they need court permission to chase him (which is very very unlikely to be granted). Check out the Statute of Limitations and get him to talk to the National Debt Line.

He plainly has a bank account, which means he has a credit record of some sort and has therefore actually been traceable for years. Get all three credit records ASAP.

Is the endowmment in his sole name or joint names?

If he moves out, he has to pay her 20 percent of his net pay to cover Child Support. Nothing else. He may want to keep the endowment paid up in the short-term. He needs advice on whether he could claim that or whether the pay-out goes directly to the mortgage provider. Does he have the paperwork for that account?

fluffy*giraffe*

thanks for the replies, he is literate but has been very stupid and trusting i think! as far as i know she hasnt claimed anything apart from tax credits as a family, he trusted her implicitly with all financial matters and looking back he has been a fool. it has been a case of put it all in my name and i will sort it out. i am sure there is more to it but he is mystified. it is like she has been planning this for some time and over the past couple of days she had given him a lot of cash to just go but he still doesnt know why!

he has bank accounts and credit cards and the endowment is in joint names. he has looked all over the house for any kind of paperwork but everything has gone.

RAS

Does he have any joint bank accounts?

Regarding the endowment, does he know which provider? If so, he needs to make a request to all the information regarding the account under the Freedom of Information Act (costs £10).

He can register his interest in the house by placing a notice on the deeds at the Land Registry (assuming England and Wales).

He MUST go and see a lawyer very very urgently and not move out even if that means taking flak in the short-term. He needs to remain clam and not answer back.

She may have another partner lined up or be planning to move and have not told him.

fluffy*giraffe*

you know the first thing i did was look to see if the house was on the market!

no joint bank accounts.

i think she is having some kind of mental breakdown or something some of the things she has done is just weird to say the least dont want to go into to much detail on here but there is no emotion at all just practical stuff like i did for my kids when they said they wanted to move out. and the cash she is chucking at him is some serious stuff not just a few hundred quid.

RAS

fluffy*giraffe* wrote: »

no joint bank accounts.

Good. No other joint accounts?

he needs to see a lawyer pronto however.

She may go for an occupation order or even try to evict on the grounds that he is a lodger (legally she could argue as the sole owner that but he could show evidence of large payments towards the mortgage).

Mojisola

fluffy*giraffe* wrote: »

they have children.
they have been together for 20 years.

RAS wrote: »

She may go for an occupation order or even try to evict on the grounds that he is a lodger (legally she could argue as the sole owner that but he could show evidence of large payments towards the mortgage).

As they have been LTAHAW, she won't be able to claim that he is a lodger.

fluffy*giraffe*

just found out that the tax credit claim is in his name as he pays tax and insurance at work, she works cash in hand.

nothing in joint names only endowment policy

he has a bank account for his wages and a couple of cards attached to that account.

she has said she will have him removed if he doesnt go. she is so desperate for him to move out, it is like she woke up one morning as said right thats it off you go!

RAS

Mojisola wrote: »

As they have been LTAHAW, she won't be able to claim that he is a lodger.

No suggesting he is a lodger but she might claim he is one in order to get the police to remove him.

zzzLazyDaisy

Firstly OP please can you clarify whether your friend lives in Scotland, or England/Wales. This is crucial because the laws are very different regarding cohabiting couples and their rights in Scotland.