Splitting up assets after speration

wazza

Hi, my wife left me and the kids nearly a year ago. I am at home bringing up young kids therefore had to quit my job. I bought the house before i met her. My question are that after a 11 year marriage:-

1. does she has any claim on my house? The mortgage is in my name. She was a housewife.

2. If i come into any monies in the near future would she have a right to claim her share of it?

My solicitor is aware we have been seperated for nearly a year. The court gave me custody of the kids. At present she dosent want to file for a divorce. Probably due to expense.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Murtle

Sorry to ask, but is there a reason why you don't file for divorce?

From memory it cost £180 and I think there were ways of having the amount reduced, i.e. if you're not working?

If you divorce amicably do you think she would want anything from you??

Legally, yes I think she could have a claim on something from the house as she was 'the housewife' therefore looking after the kids etc so paid in other ways then financially.

If she wanted to, I guess she could make a claim for any monies that you come into, but I don't think a court would look to kindly on that.

I personally think you'd be better off getting the situation tidied up and finalised sooner rather then later.

Wishing you all the best.

wazza

thanks for the info. just wonder what will happen if she is given share of the house. do i have to sell up or pay her share. at present i am not working and dont have much in the bank also the house is mortgaged. simply hate to have to sell the house hence my delay in prolonging the divorce procedure

Murtle

Do you know what she is likely to ask for?? You could look at working things out amicably. My ex and I sorted out all the financial bits aside from the divorce. The fact that the court has awarded you the children does seem a little strange that the rest of it wasnt' dealt with at the time

Hopefully as you have the children things should work to your favour, but I wouldn't have 100% faith in the system.

To get the money, if it was the only place then they could either get you to sell it or remortgage it.

A lot of it depends on how flexible she is???

headchef

Have a feeling you will get lots of posts on this one!
Firstly, no court will make you or the children homeless as you are primary carer. But there are a number of factors to consider. One being the size of the house in relation to your children's needs. Say, if you lived in a large five bed house and you have two children, your wife's sol may (just may) argue that you can downsize and give your wife some of the spare equity. Your wife's sol may also argue that you can defer giving her any money from the house until your youngest child is 18 (the assumption being that you can then downsize to a smaller home).
There are no hard and fast rules and that is why so many divorces end in bitter disputes.
Best advice is to go to your library and take out a few books on the subject. Become an expert! Most people who post on here are very common sense type of people with good adivce to offer. But beware of well meaning friends! They want the best for you and can unwittingly give you the wrong info.
I've just helped my brother through his divorce. I went with him to the sol as he has MS and his short term memory is not good (also he was on happy pills and not feeling his best). His wife kept the 3 bed house but he kept all his pension entitlement and the endowment (although it isn't worth much yet). They didn't have a mortgage as they had moved from an expensive part of the country to a poor! So many people told him that he was 'entitled to half'.
With one of his two sons being Autistic (and needing his own bedromm), there was no way he was going to get anything from the three bed house. His ex-wife is full time carer and so couldn't work to 'buy' him out either.
You see, it depends so much on individual cirmcumstances!
Best of luck x

Allexie

wazza wrote:

Hi, my wife left me and the kids nearly a year ago. I am at home bringing up young kids therefore had to quit my job. I bought the house before i met her. My question are that after a 11 year marriage:-

1. does she has any claim on my house? The mortgage is in my name. She was a housewife.

2. If i come into any monies in the near future would she have a right to claim her share of it?

My solicitor is aware we have been seperated for nearly a year. The court gave me custody of the kids. At present she dosent want to file for a divorce. Probably due to expense.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Errrmmm...I'm a bit confused as to why your solicitor hasn't been able to answer these questions for you...?

Or if all else fails...why not try the CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau)?

Hope you get sorted soon.. it must be very worrying...

wazza

Allexie - my ex moved in with her boyfriend. A couple of weeks went by. It seems that someone had planned a scheme with her to get me out of the house and she moves in. She made a story up about me being abusive and drunk. She applied for powers of arrest on me and i had to attend the court before a judge. Lucky for me i had evidence that shows she was lying and unfit to look after the young kids. She had been suffering depression. The judge allowed me to look after the children and allowed her to see the kids every other weekend. The next step was to go back to court to see CAS (i think) who will decide if its best for the kids to stay with me or their mum. Before that day my ex rang her solicitors and dropped all charges/proceedings. This is why it never go to that final stage. Did ask her about divorce she wasnt all that bothered. She know that if she claims her share of the house i will move back to yorkshire which will make it harder for her to visit the kids. Must say that was the worst day in my life. You hear stories how the mother always gets the kids.

Thanks for all those who have replied. My solicitor did give some advice but at the end of the day it all depends on the judge.

Fran

It's not clear from your posts whether there is going to be another court hearing re Residency Orders?

As long as you are living in the house with the children it is very likely that a judge would order that you live in the house until the children are adults and at that stage you would split the house.

As Allexie suggested, have a word with Citizens Advice, they have information like this and can advise on your overall situation.

The court might order that Residency Order is given only if you stay in the place you are now and the children go to the same schools. They did this in my case and both the kids father & myself have Residency Orders which depends on this. It's a b****** as it meant that I had to live somewhere I hated living for 8 years. Now I'm living somewhere pleasant but not where I would choose.

I have to ask, as you mention it, but is there any truth in the drink and abuse accusation that she made? If there is, perhaps you should think carefully about the care of the children. My ex saw the court cases as a competition and kept saying things like "I'll beat you in court", "you'll never win" and other (abusive) things. I hope that neither of you get to have this kind of attitude as this is not necessarily the best for the children.

Spendless

Fran wrote:

The court might order that Residency Order is given only if you stay in the place you are now and the children go to the same schools. They did this in my case and both the kids father & myself have Residency Orders which depends on this. It's a b****** as it meant that I had to live somewhere I hated living for 8 years. Now I'm living somewhere pleasant but not where I would choose.

In the case of people I know when the son lived with the father and step-mum they decided that they'd like to move elsewhere. The boys mother went back to court and got told that they could only live within a 25 mile radius of where they currently were.

In this case they lived in England and were wishing to move to Scotland-I have no idea whether this would have anything to do with it or not.

I just thought I'd mention it Wazza as it would be wise to get advice before deciding on a move.

wazza

Fran - no i do not drink or have hit my wife. She was asked to say that to give weight to her claim.

Thanks for the advice. There isnt another hearing at the court. It is a matter of waiting who will apply for the divorce first.

Watch this space :-)

Fran

wazza wrote:

Fran - no i do not drink or have hit my wife. She was asked to say that to give weight to her claim.

Sorry, had to ask as it went through my mind. Good luck with whatever happens, whichever way you look at it it's difficult when parents have split up.