Advice sought on behalf of worried friend

albionsarah

Hi mortgage people!

A friend I haven't heard from in a while just told me her husband has left her for good

He has moved in with his parents.
Friend and her husband have a joint mortgage and she wants to stay in the house as it's in the catchment area of a great school for their son (he goes to school next year).

Apparently the bank have told her that although she can make the mortgage repayments, she can't have the mortgage transferred into just her name as she doesn't earn enough to meet their criteria.

What can she do?

I'm meeting up with her tomorrow afternoon, any help greatly appreciated.

Thrugelmir

Advise her to consult a solicitor as soon as possible. Also too remain in occupancy in the property.

Details will need to be thrashed out as part of the divorce settlement.
However in general there's a reasonable possibility that she can remain in the house while the son is in full time education. Once the son leaves FTE then the property is sold and the equity divided in the pre agreed form.

Basis of my comment is that the court is primarily interested in the welfare of the child. Not the warring factions.

albionsarah

Thank you very much, I'll tell her all of that.

I doubt it but is there a free or cheap way to get solicitors advice?

Another question, when people say about buying someone out of the mortgage, what exactly does this mean?

Just say (and this is a complete guess) their house is worth £200k and they have £120k left to pay off, could someone explain what options they have?

Thank you again.

Thrugelmir

A link to a site that may be of use.

http://www.resolution.org.uk/

In effect you would need to buy their share of the equity in the property from them. Then finance the mortgage oneself. From your earlier post sounds as if this not an option.

Following on from above. The property would be sold and the remaining equity of £80k would be divided. If a 70/30 were agreed. Then your friend would have £56k towards a new property.

Hence why in my first post I talked about remaining in the property. As stability for the child is considered to be of primary importance.

albionsarah

Okay thank you. I'll give her the link to that website too.

No further questions! Thanks for your replies Xx

Gold_bullion

I totally agree with Thrugelmir's advice and have personal experience of this myself 15 years ago when my partner was in this situation with her ex.

At that time we wanted to be independent of her ex and sold the property she lived in after he left her for someone else to buy a new (more modest) property with her share of the equity. However, hindsight being a wonderful thing, looking back we should have stayed in that property for as long as possible and probably would have been able to afford it with the divorce settlement she eventually obtained after many months arguing over their divorce terms. She too had young children. The temptation is to want to start anew and be independent (as your friend has clearly explored with the bank). However, this may not be to her advantage longer term, bearing in mind the current increase in house prices. In effect, the more she delays, the better off she will be if prices continue to rise. Where young children are involved it's not uncommon for the spouse who remains with the children to get 100% of the equity, as my OH did.

Our experience was that divorce lawyers simply argue for the sake of it to make money. Yes, you probably need them at least initially to get the best deal, especially if the other half employs them, but your friend will need to consider when they have served their purpose. Otherwise they will bleed her dry.

albionsarah

Thank you Gold bullion. I'm getting stressed out on her behalf, this all sounds like it could be a long process. Makes me kind of glad I never got married!