Cohabiting couple now seperated

DownInTheDumps01

To cut a very long story short. . . .
Oct 2005 house bought with my now late husband.
Nov 2005 daughter born
2007 Husband passes away (no life insurance as couldn't get insured as lots of hospital appointments and unconfirmed diagnosis until it was too late - stage 4 Cancer)
2008 met my now ex. I was in receipt of windows benefit.
2009 he wanted us to move in together into our own house. Parents loan us 5k interest free loan. (this is classed as a joint contribution as are both responsible for paying it back)
Remortgaged what was my marital home on a buy to let and released equity of 5k to put towards a deposit with partner. (joint mortgage) This was to be my contribution but his solicitor now says its a joint contribution as the property is now in joint names. I worked part time.
Both of us saved - at the time I was on more money than him due to tax credits and widows benefit.
Property has been rented out since 2010 up until May 2017 with only a month of being vacant. Rent into his bank account. (the pot) as thats where all our savings were, although he would not add my name to his account or let us set up an account in joint name.
2010 found a house but fell through so found another house but mortgage lender changed the criteria. Company who owned the house suggested we rent it off them until we could reapply for a mortgage again and the rent we paid would then contribute to the mortgage.
Widows benefit ceased as I I had to declare we were now living together. I now worked full time.
He paid the mortgage on the rental property (-this paid for itself due to the rental profit) and also the rent on the property we moved into.(which the landlord gave us back as a contribution towards the purchase) I paid all the bills, food, petrol (I only passed my test in 2013) clothes, childcare and day to day expenditure.
2011 - bought the house we were renting putting down a deposit of just under 20k.
2013 - fixed term finished on mortgage so remortgaged paying another 8k off mortgage as had continued saving the previous years. mortgaged payments had decreased on both properties but my outgoings with bills and food etc had increased,
We continued saving so as to pay another lump sum when the fixed rate finished and we remortgaged.
Sept 2014 - We separate after it comes to light he has feelings for his work colleague which i had seen 12 months previous only to be told I was mental. He moves out with over 7k of our savings. and moves into a house nearby.
He insists these are OUR savings numerous times yet spends them all, although he did carry on paying the mortgage until I could remortgage in May 2015. He signs title deeds over to me, although drafts a promissory note for the sum of 20k that says he has loaned me and that should he request it I have 1 year to give him the full amount. I refuse to sign.
He files an application to the land registry to say he has beneficial interest but the way it is worded is that I have made no contribution whatsoever. - I object.
Aug 2015 he informs estate agent who deals with the rental property that he is the sole owner. I dont see my share of the rental profit from Sept 2014 - present date. (3k)
Sept 2015 -he moves in with his partner and her children who she shares 50/50 custody with husband.
2016 I contact him via solicitor to force the sale of the rental property. He refuses yet refuses to give me my share of the profit.
He files an application to the courts for a contact order for my daughter. He already has access but wants 50/50 and parental responsibility. We go to court 3 times costing me 7k.
He doesn't get parental responsibility but the judge classes him as a psychological parent (we lived together for 4 years and he had 2 jobs and hardly spent anytime with my daughter) but as he isn't a biological parent i do not get support for her financially.
My outgoings approx 31k for the time we lived together, his were approx 19k
Lots of solicitors letters too and fro.
He is adamant he is entitled to a 66% share to the house we lived in together, plus 50% of what was my marital home and he put nothing towards, just a signature on the buy to let mortgage.
2017 - i contact him via solicitors to offer him 50/50 of both properties but upon sale before the equity is split we need to repay the legal charges, estates agents and i get my share of the rental profit he has withheld and his half of the outstanding loan to my parents. I'm stressed to the hilt and it's making me ill.-No response.
Land registry contacts us advising our case is suitable for mediation which is set for a couple of weeks time. we have from 9am-5pm to agree between us or it goes to the high court which then costs around 40k, so in affect we end up with nothing.
My daughter does not want to move house as we have already left the house she was born in.

When we cohabited together i sacrificed my widows benefit, if we were married that would be taken into consideration. I am guessing as we were not married it would not be?

When a mediator or a judge comes to a decision of fairness my question is this - could i claim my widows benefit (my financial sacrifice) loss be given consideration in a cohabiting relationship?

The savings he left with which he accrued as i paid for everything else and have bank statements to prove it, can I claim half? I have texted with him stating they are OUR savings.

He is wanting to place a restriction on the property i am living in now with my daughter but this is just a control thing. He has moved on yet doesn't seem to want to let me. I cannot afford to release equity and then manage the higher mortgage repayments.

I want to offer him the rental property (that has paid for itself the entire length of our relationship) which has 15k equity and he doesnt have to pay me back half of the savings (3k) and my half of the rental profit (3k) this equates to 21k. He has basically got half a property for nothing.

There is currently 34k equity in total based on the market value of the property i am living in now. Like i said he has contact with my daughter but does not support her financially.

I am struggling to keep a roof over our heads and any advice would be greatly appreciated. I can no longer afford a solicitor.

Thanks in advance and sorry its so long.

lovinituk

That's the short version?!

DownInTheDumps01

I'm afraid so

Geoff1963

That's pretty tough. I hope someone has good advice for you.

TonyMMM

DownInTheDumps01 wrote: »

I can no longer afford a solicitor.

Wrong - you can't NOT afford a solicitor

jackieblack

DownInTheDumps01 wrote: »

To cut a very long story short. . . .
Oct 2005 house bought with my now late husband.
Nov 2005 daughter born
2007 Husband passes away (no life insurance)
2008 met my now ex. I was in receipt of windows benefit.

2009 he wanted us to move in together into our own house. Parents loan us 5k interest free loan (joint)
Remortgaged what was my marital home on a buy to let and released equity of 5k to put towards a deposit with partner (joint mortgage) (This was to be my contribution but his solicitor now says its a joint contribution as the property is now in joint names)
Property has been rented out since 2010 up until May 2017 with only a month of being vacant. Rent into his bank account. (the pot)

2010 found a house but mortgage lender changed the criteria. Company who owned the house suggested we rent it off them until we could reapply for a mortgage and the rent we paid would then contribute to the mortgage.
Widows benefit ceased as I I had to declare we were now living together. I now worked full time.
He paid the mortgage on the rental property (this paid for itself due to the rental profit) and also the rent on the property we moved into.(which the landlord gave us back as a contribution towards the purchase) I paid all the bills and day to day expenditure.

2011 - bought the house we were renting, putting down a deposit of just under 20k

2013 - remortgaged paying another 8k off mortgage

Sept 2014 - We separate. He moves out with over 7k of our savings. and moves into a house nearby.

He insists these are OUR savings numerous times yet spends them all, although he did carry on paying the mortgage until I could remortgage in May 2015.
He signs title deeds over to me

He files an application to the land registry to say he has beneficial interest but the way it is worded is that I have made no contribution whatsoever - I object.

Aug 2015 he informs estate agent who deals with the rental property that he is the sole owner. I dont see my share of the rental profit from Sept 2014 - present date. (3k)
Sept 2015 -he moves in with new partner and her children

2016 I contact him via solicitor to force the sale of the rental property. He refuses and refuses to give me my share of the profit.
He applies for a contact order for my daughter. He already has access but wants 50/50 and parental responsibility. We go to court 3 times costing me 7k. He doesn't get parental responsibility and as he isn't a biological parent i do not get support for her financially.

He is adamant he is entitled to a 66% share to the house we lived in together, plus 50% of what was my marital home

2017 - via solicitors I offer him an amount equal to 50% of equity in both properties (after expenses) less my share of the rental profit he has withheld and his half of the outstanding loan to my parents.
No response.
Land registry advises our case is suitable for mediation which is set for a couple of weeks time. we have to agree between us or it goes to the high court which then costs around 40k, so in effect we end up with nothing.

When we cohabited i sacrificed my widows benefit, if we were married that would be taken into consideration. I am guessing as we were not married it would not be?

When a mediator or a judge comes to a decision of fairness my question is this - could i claim my widows benefit (my financial sacrifice) loss be given consideration in a cohabiting relationship?

Can I claim half of the savings he left with? (which he accrued as i paid for everything else and have bank statements to prove it) I have texted with him stating they are OUR savings.

I cannot afford to release equity and then manage the higher mortgage repayments.
I want to offer him the rental property which has 15k equity and he doesnt have to pay me back half of the savings (3k) and my half of the rental profit (3k) this equates to 21k.
There is currently 34k equity in the property i am living in now.

Slightly shorter version (but not by much)

pphillips

Your story shows just what can happen if you get financially tied up with someone without the legal protection of either a cohabitation agreement or marriage.

I think the answer to your question is that your ex does not owe you the widows benefit, it was your choice to cohabit with someone and in doing so you knew you would forfeit your widows benefit as a result.

If you have a child with him and he won't support her financial then contact the child support agency.

TBagpuss

OK.
Because you are not married, this is not about fairness, and things like you losing your widows benefits, or the situation with the children, are irrelevant.

As I understand it, there are 2 properties, one which is in your sole name, and one in joint names.

House in joint Names

Unless you have a declaration of trust in place, then the starting presumption is that you are each entitle to 50% of the net equity once the mortgage etc are paid off.

If either of you is claiming that you should have more than 50% then the person making that claim will have to show that they made higher contributions to the purchase price and that there was a joint intention that that should be reflected in how you owned the property. A joint intention can be inferred from your actions.

Sole Name

If he is seeking an interest in a property in your sole name he will have to prove that he is entitled to it, y showing that he contributed to the proerty and that there was a joint intention that he would gain in interest in it. I f am reading your post correctly, (although it is far from clear which property s which, might be helpful if you give them names, even if it is just "A" and "B") then he transferred this property (back?) into your sole name after you had separated. This is a strange thing to do if he still believed that he had an interest in the property. What did it say on the TR1 about the consideration for the property?

Unless there was anything agreed at that time for him to retain an interest in the property, I would think that his putting it into your name without you making any payment to him, is the strongest possible evidence you have that he has no interest in the property and did not expect any, otherwise surely he would have sought payment at the time of the transfer.

That said, I agree that you can't afford not to get proper advice. Look for a litigation solicitor with experience of ToLATA claims. make sure that they are aware of any previous offers made and the basis on which they were made (e.g. without prejudice or open) as this will matter when it comes to any proceedings.