Divorce Question - Who gets what

rfowler

Hi Guys,

Need some advice for a very close friend.

Him and his wife are getting divorced and wanted to know about his house, basically he inherited his house from his parents (who have both passed away) he met this girl and they got married but he never put her name on the house but they both lived there but she never paid for any bills and its mortgage free before he met her.

Is she entitled to half the house?

Any advice would be appreciated .

Thanks,

Mojisola

How long were they married for?

bouicca21

It all depends ... How long were they married? Are there any dependent children? Are there other assets like pension funds, savings etc? Are there any debts other than the mortgage? How old are they? What do they earn?

rfowler

They were married for 5/6 years, they have no savings , no kids, no assets, the house is mortgage free but he got the house as inheritance when both his parents passed away. No Debts.

They both had temp jobs over the last few years but nothing perm

They are 28 and 30.

Mojisola

Did they live together before that - that time will be counted as well.

rfowler

No they didn't live together before that

RAS

All property, savings, pensions etc are "assets of the marriage."

The starting point is 50:50 on combined assets. If they had cheldren, the parent with whom they lived might get more or at the very least the right to live there until the youngest reached adulthood.

He needs to see a solicitor.

Mojisola

A 'short marriage' - after which both parties are returned to the financial position they were in before the marriage - seems to be stretched to about five years now so he may be able to argue that he should keep the house.

There's loads of info on wikivorce -
http://www.wikivorce.com/divorce/divorce-settlements.html

pmlindyloo

Please get your friend to read this:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/relationships_e/relationships_relationship_problems_e/ending_a_marriage.htm

No one can say for definite who will get what. it will depend on so many things and often ends up with who has the best solicitor.

The very best approach to ending a marriage is for the two parties to agree.

Getting solicitors involved means only one thing - ugliness, time, hassle and a lot of money lining the solicitors' pockets.

Please try and persuade your friend to talk to her ex. and persuade them to go to family mediation. She can google for her nearest one. They do charge but it is so much cheaper than getting solicitors.
involved. A court will expect mediation to be used in the first instance if they cannot work out things between themselves.

Of course if everything is 'ugly' already then they may have to use solicitors. The link given is useful but, in the end, each case is individual.

Seanymph

Often it comes to who fights hardest.

Who actually is IN the house now - if your friend is in the house, and the other party has moved out, that is a good start.

justme111

Seanymph wrote: »

Often it comes to who fights hardest.

Who actually is IN the house now - if your friend is in the house, and the other party has moved out, that is a good start.

Its not a good start. If your son had a house , met a girl, married , then on divorcing after 5 years and no children she stayed in the house that you left him - i do not think you'd called it good.
OP , i would say him paying her a few grand to make it easier to get back into single rented life would be fair and probably the best solution. Of course if she is greedy she can try to get more but in that case lowyers will get double of what she foes i guess and bad karma is not a good thing..