What is she entitled to?

dopolous

I lost my job so had to take my pension. After paying off some debts I paid £40k off the mortgage with my lump sum and put new windows in the house. My wife then told me we were seperating! I am in work, albeit on a contract basis. What I need to know is am I entitled to get that £40k back as I see it as part of my pension which is a different negotiation to the equity in the house. She does not want to move and expects me to rent, I have said no. She is stating that 'you will not get half the equity' I said I know although I cannot get a mortgage due to bad credit rating. As I am reciept of pension and it may be my only source of income I do not think that she has a say on that as I will be doing my best to pay for maintainence for my children. She is due a bank pension at age 60, do I get a share of that?

Thank you all

molerat

You need to speak to a solicitor.

atush

The money you put into the house doesn't matter much, as a lump sum in a savings acct she would have gotten some of it when your property is split.

It doesn't matter what she says, you will get your share of the property equity (esp if your pension has commended already), but if she can't afford to buy you out, and you have dependant children- expect this to be some time in the future. If the pension has not commenced, sometimes one partner gets a larger share of the equity if they decide not to split the pension.

See a solicitor immediately. You don't actually have to leave the home if you cannot afford to.

DigForVictory

+1 for a solicitor (ideally one who does both divorce & family law) asap.
Sorry it's happened to you - but right now you need a pro as well as our commentary from the sidelines.

Mojisola

How old are the children?

jamesd

The default initial position in England and Wales is that you each get half of any increase in value during the marriage. So you get half of her pension's increase and she gets half of the same from yours and you each get half of the equity and debt in the house.

The age of the children and their schooling arrangements may matter considerably. If they are adults and don't need to live in the house any more than it may well be best to sell the house so that you can each have somewhere owned to live. Neither of you would need a house in such a situation, so selling the house and buying two flats would work well for your needs.

It is quite common for one party, usually the woman, to want the house, even more so if they have custody of the children most of the time. But if you also have custody they would need somewhere to stay when with you as well. If one person gets more of the equity in a house they would usually end up having less of something else, like a lower share of pension value.

You need a solicitor. Your wife is already making unacceptable claims - why wouldn't you get half of the house equity? - and she's likely to completely compromise your position if you show any inclination to accept them.

Best not to use the word maintenance in connection with children, that word generally refers to payments to a former spouse, child child support refers to payments for children.

dopolous

Thanks all,

My children are 9 (girl) and 6(boy) without a job I will have a pension of £970 per month to live on. I understand that maintainence payments are approx 20% of net income. I am annoyed as I reduced my pension amd increased my lump sum to pay off part of the mortgage and was then told aboyt the split. My pension is now £12274 PA without the reduction it would have been about £16k pa. She is stating that I would not get half the equity as she needs somewhere to live, I have agreed that she needs a 3 bed house. She can have the mortgage in her name and extend it as she is 10 years younger. I need a flat, pref 2 beds but I could get by on one. I will have my children every other weekend if I am working. The house is worth about £330k the motrgage is £65k. So allowing for costs that would leave about £240-250k a 50/50 split plus topped up mortgage for her would give her about £210k to get a place and me about £115k.

The thing is if she does not agree even after mediation then it is going to cost silly money which neither of us have!.

atush

She will then have to pay for half that expensive cost out of her half.

The facts are you need a 2 bed place (where will your kids stay in a one bed?), and she can get away with 2 beds for a few years at a pinch. 3 is best, but it could be a cheaper 3?

She obv encouraged you to take the wrong retirement deal for you (as a single not a family) as you would have had higher income and more to spend on your kids, use that in your mediation.

jamesd

She may need somewhere to live but that is not enough to eliminate your own needs for a place to live and income to live on. She's exploiting your willingness to be nice. Get the help of a solicitor, you need it.

Your bad credit rating and her younger age means that you have a greater need for equity than her, so you will be able to buy a place to live without using credit. She has more years available to work and use a mortgage to buy.

She may have a need for a three bedroom place - not necessarily a house - but it does not necessarily have to be where the current one is. It could easily be in a cheaper area, say, or a flat rather than a house. There are plenty of parts of the country that are much cheaper than others, including places where it's possible to buy a house for less than £60,000. She may want the current place but want and need are different things.

If her pension, or one of them, is a personal pension or group personal pension through work and you're 55 or older you'd be able to start taking an income from it as soon as you get any share of it. The bank pension probably isn't this type but she may have others. For the bank pension it's probably best to accept her keeping that in exchange for more equity money that you can use to buy a place to live in. Don't just make an ad hoc arrangement to do this, get a solicitor. Your age differences mean that the standard default splits will not be appropriate and your interests will be compromised if you use them. The age difference and earning potential difference is very significant.

A solicitor costs money. Not using one is going to cost you considerably more given what you've posted so far.

Get a solicitor. You need one.

itch_for_a_glitch

What hqappens to your pension if you die ?
..............just saying.

atush

Just saying, do a search.

Your beneficiaries whould receive it, if you filled out your 'wishes' form. If you didn't, your scheme provide would use their discretion (ie next of kin, look at your will etc).