Divorced in 2010 ex wants 1/2 equity in property

Elizabeth_Torr

I divorced in 2010 and we never sorted the property out and my ex now wants 1/2 of the equity in the property which their share would be around £7k however they never contributed a penny since we split in 2009. We married and divorced in France and when we split we had a joint property in negative equity. The property was rented out in 2009 as the rent did not cover the mortgage I have been making up the payments to cover the mortgage and paying out to keep the property maintained and fees for estate agent, the ex has not made a single contribution. After calculating monies I received and what I paid out I have spent nearly £40,000 to keep the property on. My ex in now demanding that I sell the property so that they can have 1/2 of the equity. I have tried to speak with the ex but I feel that they are being unreasonable and would not try to let me explain what I have paid. I have offered to get a new mortgage and remove them from the property but they are having none of it. How do I stand on this? We never had children either.

consumers_revenge

Theres a bike....tell ex to get on it!

davomcdave

consumers_revenge wrote: »

Theres a bike....tell ex to get on it!

I agree.

If ex thinks this then ex should instruct a solicitor. Sure the property was included in the division of assets at the time of the divorce...?

pphillips

If you and your ex jointly own a property then unfortunately you have a problem, you can't just tell them to get on their bike and hope they go away.

If you cannot agree with them what their beneficial interest in the property is then the matter will probably end up in court. It will then be argued out between solicitors before a judge what should now happen to the property and what share of it they should get.

Did it never occur to you that this might happen one day?

FBaby

Tell him to take a hike! His only chance is to take you to court, and if he does, he won't have much left of the £7K for himself....that is of course if he got that £7k, which from what you are saying, he might struggle to get awarded anyway.

DUTR

FBaby wrote: »

Tell him to take a hike! His only chance is to take you to court, and if he does, he won't have much left of the £7K for himself....that is of course if he got that £7k, which from what you are saying, he might struggle to get awarded anyway.

Me suspects the OP is a troll.

[Deleted User]

Troll or not, methinks that "The Law is a donkey", and what it might reasonably be expected to do, it quite possibly won't!

DUTR

Sleazy wrote: »

Troll or not, methinks that "The Law is a donkey", and what it might reasonably be expected to do, it quite possibly won't!

An ex GF of mine had a house paid for, she returned to her long ago ex BF, they soon got married, it didn't work out and she ended up having to buy him out, it was just over £2k at the time but this was back in the 90s.

TBagpuss

Hugs. You need to get legal advice. Is the property in the UK? Do you and the ex both now lie in the UK? Was any kind of finacial order made as part of the divorce?

Having a court order in the country where the divorce took place overseas is a little more complicated than if the divorce took place here, but may be possible. I would suggest that you also take some initial advice from a French lawyer to see whether a claim is possible there, and what the outcome would be.

In English law, your ex can make a claim for a financial settlement, A court would have to decide what was fair and reasonable in all the circumstances, and while that would include looking at the value of any assets now, they would also be entitled to look at the bigger picture, including the position as it was in 2010, what has happened since then.

Are there any other assets? IF your ex has any savings or a pension then those would also be matrimonial assets and you might have a claim.

Finally, as you were married in France was there any kind of pre-nuptial agreement? I *believe* (but get proper advice) that France has a community of property law which means that assets built up during the marriage are automatically held in common unless there is a legal agreement otherwise. This *might* means that under French Law your ex would be entitled to 50% of the equity regardless of who has paid what since you separated.

Sicard

I've been told the ex can claim up to 10 years after divorce. Seek proper advice.

Diary

Elizabeth_Torr wrote: »

I divorced in 2010 and we never sorted the property out and my ex now wants 1/2 of the equity in the property which their share would be around £7k however they never contributed a penny since we split in 2009. We married and divorced in France and when we split we had a joint property in negative equity. The property was rented out in 2009 as the rent did not cover the mortgage I have been making up the payments to cover the mortgage and paying out to keep the property maintained and fees for estate agent, the ex has not made a single contribution. After calculating monies I received and what I paid out I have spent nearly £40,000 to keep the property on. My ex in now demanding that I sell the property so that they can have 1/2 of the equity. I have tried to speak with the ex but I feel that they are being unreasonable and would not try to let me explain what I have paid. I have offered to get a new mortgage and remove them from the property but they are having none of it. How do I stand on this? We never had children either.

Not sure why you'd want to speak or explain anything to your ex? Talking and explaining isn't going to sort anything out. By far the best thing to do is ask her to get a solicitor and sort it out properly once and for all, like it should have been years ago.