Dad who has given almost nothing- due to gain a load maybe

Helpmeifyoucan

Hello,

Please can I get some advice? My ex partner and I are tenants in common on our property that I am am occupying with our 11 year old son. We both own the property.

My uncle sold me the property at below market price to avoid capital gains tax (I didn't even know what this meant at the time, I was young). It therefore appears that my ex put in 50% more deposit.

He has rarely worked since I have known him. He wasn't working when we took the mortgage out but we got it on the strength of my ability to re-pay. He has paid virtually nothing towards anything in the property/mortgage and I have had a child maintenance claim running against for years- whereby he has also paid virtually nothing.

My ex partner moved out 7 years ago. On paper it appears that he paid £28k to my £14k. My ex painted one room- I have paid for and refurbished all of the rest of the property- at least £10k's worth.

We (my family) want to avoid going to court, we think (for obvious reasons).

If anyone should seek to gain it should be our son. Really the fact that there has been no child support could potentially be used as leverage?? The difference is that I would actually make sure our son benefitted in a significant and long term way.

What claim might my ex have in this situation pls? How's can I get out of this mess- does anyone have any bright ideas pls? We were never married.

Many thanks

POPPYOSCAR

Maybe it is because it is late but I am confused as to how your ex appears to have put down twice as much deposit as you 'on paper'.

kingfisherblue

Helpmeifyoucan wrote: »

Hello,

Please can I get some advice? My ex partner and I are tenants in common on our property that I am am occupying with our 11 year old son. We both own the property.

My uncle sold me the property at below market price to avoid capital gains tax (I didn't even know what this meant at the time, I was young). It therefore appears that my ex put in 50% more deposit.

He has rarely worked since I have known him. He wasn't working when we took the mortgage out but we got it on the strength of my ability to re-pay. He has paid virtually nothing towards anything in the property/mortgage and I have had a child maintenance claim running against for years- whereby he has also paid virtually nothing.

My ex partner moved out 7 years ago. On paper it appears that he paid £28k to my £14k. My ex painted one room- I have paid for and refurbished all of the rest of the property- at least £10k's worth.

We (my family) want to avoid going to court, we think (for obvious reasons).

If anyone should seek to gain it should be our son. Really the fact that there has been no child support could potentially be used as leverage?? The difference is that I would actually make sure our son benefitted in a significant and long term way.

What claim might my ex have in this situation pls? How's can I get out of this mess- does anyone have any bright ideas pls? We were never married.

Many thanks

I don't understand this part either.

tacpot12

Unless you or he has any paperwork that states how much of the property you each own, he will have trouble proving he is entitled to more than half the proceeds of the sale. Are you thinking of selling the house?

Guest101

tacpot12 wrote: »

Unless you or he has any paperwork that states how much of the property you each own, he will have trouble proving he is entitled to more than half the proceeds of the sale. Are you thinking of selling the house?

Given they own as tenants in common there must be a split, e.g. 50/50.....

Kayalana99

I'm guessing he physically paid 28k, and she put 14k towards it? but then the house value was a lot lower then what it was supposed to be so perhaps she is saying that really she 'owned' more of the house then him.

Doesn't really matter, child support won't be taken into account.

If you are not married? then he gets his % share. That is by law how much he owns on paper, and that is how much he should get.

If you are married, you may *MAY* (no lawyer here) have grounds to fight for a higher percentage since you have a child and have contributed more.

The difference is if you are married, you both own everything so even if the house was 100% in your name and you were together for a long time then he is still entitled to 50% as a starting point (then you can fight 60/40 etc on the basics of children etc)

Again, no lawyer so please don't take my advice as truth without finding out your own research.

TBagpuss

You mention that you are tenants in common. Do you have a declaration of trust?

In terms of contibution, if the property was bought at an undervalue than the 'discount' you got can be taken into account as a contribution - this is not uncommon, for instnace if the property were a right-to-buy, then the person with the right to buy would be seen as making a contbution to the value of the discount, even if they didn't contribute any cash. You would, if it were disputed, need to be able to provide evidence that the price paid was less than market value as a family gift. (and get some advice about twhethe that has any other implications. I thought CGT was paid on actual value in those cases but may be wrong)

The child support issue is unlikely to be relevant unless there was a spefic agreement (e.g. you and he agreed that he would pay less than he was assessed for and that you would instead have a larger share of the house)

Unless you were paying a mortgage highter than an open market rent would have beenm,you may struggle to argue that you should be credited extra for paying the mortgage, as you were living in the property.

You *might* be ab to argue that you should get some credit for any improvements to the property, but this would normally be based on the increase in value which the work makes, not how much you spent on it. So redecoration won't add any value, ading an extension or new kitchen might add somevalue, but not necessarily anything like as much as you spent on it. So if you have spent £10K on 'refurbishment' you would need to identify how much that has incresed the value of the property by (if at all)

Helpmeifyoucan

The reason it looks like I put in 1/2 was because uncle sold house to us and lowered value. I now know this to be tax evasion. So a delicate situation.

All paperwork was stolen by ex's mother when she came round and did an uninvited house clear- it disappeared!

Applied to land registry and got seeds of trust saying tenants in common. It does not detail % share.

I contacted solicitors fim but it had folded and I was told by new firm after 7 years they destroy records.

Ex's family member used his solicitor and led the whole thing. I was young and a bit naive at the time so I didn't question anything.

Helpmeifyoucan

We have an estate agents valuation explaining why the value was set as it was. Also houses in the error did not sell that dissimilarly at the time.

Helpmeifyoucan

I feel I do own more as without me he would have lost his entire investment. He has barely worked or claimed benefits. Plus I have maintained it. The issue is that on paper- bank transfers etc- it will seem like he put twice as much deposit in. Uncle regretting it all now.

Helpmeifyoucan

We were never married. We plan to go to a solicitor but just wanted to do a bit of research first. Thanks for all replies