Stealing House from Kid?

moneyistooshorttomention

At this stage - this may be about any useful advice as to how OP's wife/partner can cope with the fact that she has always been treated unfairly v. her sister. That being - sisters side taken when sister told a pack of lies and OP's partner having to hand over her part-time earnings whilst at school (but sister didnt) and I would imagine that is just two examples of sister being treated as Favourite.

It is a difficult position to be in - knowing that another sibling is being treated better than oneself for no good reason - but just because they are Favourite. I think we are all well aware that parents should treat their children exactly equally to each other on the one hand but some don't do so on the other hand. Parents can't help their feelings (ie they feel more positively towards one than another) - but they can help whether they act on those feelings.

silvercar

Either the deeds will be registered with land registry or the lender will have a copy of the deeds.

You can't change ownership of the property while there is a mortgage without going through a legal process and you can't change ownership nowadays without registering the new ownership with land registry.

Searching the official land registry site will tell you if the property is registered without having to spend a penny. I think you can also see when it was last registered before you have to spend £3 or £4 to download the deeds.

FBaby

Maybe their dad will decide to leave all his assets to OP's partner.

Cakeguts

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

At this stage - this may be about any useful advice as to how OP's wife/partner can cope with the fact that she has always been treated unfairly v. her sister. That being - sisters side taken when sister told a pack of lies and OP's partner having to hand over her part-time earnings whilst at school (but sister didnt) and I would imagine that is just two examples of sister being treated as Favourite.

It is a difficult position to be in - knowing that another sibling is being treated better than oneself for no good reason - but just because they are Favourite. I think we are all well aware that parents should treat their children exactly equally to each other on the one hand but some don't do so on the other hand. Parents can't help their feelings (ie they feel more positively towards one than another) - but they can help whether they act on those feelings.

This isn't just a parent liking one child more than another. This is a mother who actively lets the non favourite child know that they are not worth anything. It can be a form of child abuse. Only the OP's partner knows how badly they were treated but the mention of mental health makes me think that this was serious. What happens with the inheritance is that the mother will make sure that everything is left to the favourite child. All this favourite non favourite stuff is actually a form of control. The favourite one has to do what the mother wants because they don't want to be like the non favourite child and the non favourite child keeps trying to do something that will get some form of appreciation from the mother which is never going to happen.

What is happening at the moment is the mother is controlling the OP's partner by telling them that they will not get any inheritance and the more the OP's partner gets upset and tries to do something about this the more the mother will feel a sense of control. The best but hardest thing to do about this is to just cut contact with all of them. There is no inheritance. The father allowed the mother to do what she did to each child so he is not in a position to stand up to her now. The mother is going to make sure that non favourite child doesn't inherit anything.

moneyistooshorttomention

I wouldnt write off the possibility of father standing up to this woman belatedly - as he may not have been as fully aware as he should be of how things were whilst they were growing up. Parents who are physically absent a lot with their job for instance might not have that much of an idea...

Hence I think it worth investigating whether fathers money (ie what he has tied up in this house) can be protected from mother/sister getting their hands on it. Half the equity in that house IS fathers' basically and it's not up to this woman what happens to it - if he still wants to think in terms of OP's wife gets the fathers half and the lying sister gets mothers half.

MEM62

Unfortunately, moral arguments will not change the situation; neither can they be used in litigation.

If there was an intent between the mother and father at the time of divorce in respect of eventual disposal of the house then this should have been documented. It appears that the house is in the mothers' name and therefore she can do what she likes with it. That is her prerogative. This could have been part of the settlement when they split. However, as the OP does not have full details of the divorce settlement then she does not know what the terms were.

Perhaps it can be argued that she has been morally wronged. The post would indicate that this has been the case all her life so why expect anything different now. Not everyone is lucky in respect of the family that they a born into. Draw a line, move on and don't give mother or sister another thought. History suggests that any emotional investment she makes in these individuals will result in more of the same poor and inconsiderate treatment she has received all her life.

Cakeguts

There are two possibilities here.

1 The mother owns the whole house and can sell it.

2 The father owns half the house and can block the sale.

As both parents are still alive neither of these make any difference to the OP's partner at present.

What is making a difference is the OP's partner getting upset about the situation because this is what the mother wants her to be, upset. This is all the mother has ever wanted is to upset this daughter. This isn't really a moral or legal question it is totally to do with a relationship between a mother and a daughter.

I will ask a question. If the OP's partner had cut ties with the mother how did the OP'spartner find out that the mother was going to sell the house? I would expect that the mother told her and she would tell her in a specific way that she knew would upset the OP's partner. This is all about control.

Seanymph

Of course the easiest way would be to tell her to stuff the house and do as she wishes, and actually walk away and be independent.

steampowered

You need to get a copy of the divorce agreement and read it to see what it says.

You say there was an "understanding" about what would happen to the property. I'm afraid verbal understandings and verbal contracts in relation to land are not legally enforceable. It needs to be writing.

If the mother has breached the divorce agreement, the father may be entitled to stop her selling the property.

If there is nothing about this in the divorce agreement, and assuming the mother is the registered owner of the property as reflected on the land registry, she is probably entitled to do whatever she likes with the property.