Complicated property issue after divorce!

RAS

So she has a choice:

Accept a percentage of the equity at the time of divorce and he leaves the pension she has accrued since then alone, although he will want part of the redundancy taken into account.

Or

Argue for a percentage of the equity now and and brother goes for 50% of the pension she has accrued since then and part of the redundancy taken into account.

I would suggest that he asks for a full financial disclosure and also offers mediation?

RAS

FBaby wrote: »

So he is divorced and remarried. Surely it is too late for either of them to make a claim over pensions now?

It has been known for the long divorced to have to stump up sums from inheritances and lottery wins to exs who crawled out of the ether.

millymollie

Thanks, I will give him the info for Wikivorce.

Brother's ex ran off with another man, left kids with my brother and she moved to the other end of the country. When the divorce was going through, brother's solicitor said it would cost loads to sort out the finances and to just do it at a later date, so nothing ever got sorted re the house. Obviously now the youngest daughter has turned 18 hence the claim on the house.

My brother and his new wife wouldn't get a mortgage in their own names so looks like house sale is inevitable.

Hypothetically- if he were to make a lower offer than the 30k eg offers 20k and she accepts , would that be all she would get from the sale of the house?

Just to complicate matters further, my bro has just informed me that there is a charging order on the house (from an unsecured debt years ago) solely in his name for approx 7k.

Again, many many thanks folks x

millymollie

RAS- thanks for that. Is there any precedent for deciding regards equity at time of divorce or current equity. Or is that just down to mediation??

Principia_2

FBaby wrote: »

So he is divorced and remarried. Surely it is too late for either of them to make a claim over pensions now?

I am not a lawyer but I think that because they never sorted out the financial settlement at the time of their divorce, it remains open.

When a friend was divorced when her children were young, her ex was given 30% equity in the house to be realised when the youngest became 18 by court order (they could not agree the finances despite mediation). Perhaps your brother should check if this would be cheaper or more expensive than the straight £30k.

If I were your brother I would follow RAS's advice, do not agree anything regarding the house equity until the redundancy payment and pensions as well as any other assets are on the table.

Personally I would use a solicitor. I'm surprised the original solicitor told him to sort the finances later. This can lead to all sorts of problems, as RAS mentioned, exs crawling out the woodwork for lottery wins etc.

NAR

Wish some people would stop muddying the waters with their "guesses" on this matter. I have been through it and do know what advice I am offering is relevant.

OP sounds like she has decided to sort out their financial situation and is hoping your brother just rolls over to the solicitor's letter and agrees to the clean break settlement.

Yes I'm sure great advice will be obtained from wikidivorce. What your brother needs to do is write down all his finances, all her finances as far as he knows them. If he is using a solicitor they will know the relevant financial disclosure questions to ask the other side. Once that information has been obtained the solicitor will do the calculations and then advise your brother what to offer his ex. That's when the hardball negotiations begin.

I can advise that a few thousand in legal fees can be racked up during negotiations, if anyone becomes stubborn.

If he is going to use a solicitor make sure he gets one that has the relevant divorce experience ie a brilliant criminal solicitor will almost certainly be no use in divorce proceedings, horses for courses is relevant here.

FBaby

I am not a lawyer but I think that because they never sorted out the financial settlement at the time of their divorce, it remains open.

Even after remarrying?

Principia_2

FBaby wrote: »

Even after remarrying?

I think so because a friend was advised the same thing a few weeks ago - she wants to remarry but her ex does not want to divorce so is refusing a financial settlement. She can divorce him (has been separated for over 5 years) so suggested this to her solicitor and he advised not as they could have claims on each others assets even after marrying someone else.

However, she is also not a lawyer and may have misunderstood what was being told to her, although it seems pretty certain that her solicitor would not recommend a divorce without a financial settlement being sorted beforehand.

Any

It does look like her/the lawyer are trying it on..
They are offering "clean break for £30k" like they are doing your brother a favour, while it seems she has more to loose in negotiations!!
But OP said she is guessing the equity in the house, if the facts are different values it is a completely different story.

RAS

millymollie wrote: »

Brother's ex ran off with another man, left kids with my brother and she moved to the other end of the country. When the divorce was going through, brother's solicitor said it would cost loads to sort out the finances and to just do it at a later date, so nothing ever got sorted re the house. Obviously now the youngest daughter has turned 18 hence the claim on the house.

Is youngest daughter still in full-time secondary education?

If so the court would normally expect settlement to be after she left secondary education.

As NAR says brother needs to spend the weekend getting together as much info has he can about financial situations for both parties and see the lawyer.