Equity of house and debts

mrkitty55

Hopefully this is the right board to p;lace this question.

I have a house in my sole name and have accumulated after the separation around 55k in debts. My ex has 20k

I bought the house in my sole name 6 years ago, which has cost me around 120k

As we are now going through the finacial divorce proceeding, how is the equity split up?

Are my and her debts included as negative assets?

TBagpuss

Debts can be taken into account, as the court looks at the whole financial situation. It's usually relevant whether the debts were built up for the benefit of you as a couple, or whether they were built up solely for your benefit or entirely since the separation.

I assume that you are married / divorcing?

what the split is depends on things such as how long you were together for, when you split up, whether you have any children and what your incomes are, as well as what the house is worth.

Pradameinhofgang

hi sorry to hear you are going thru this. as TBagpuss has said above, if you are married there is no set formula as to who gets what and if it goes to court - as oppose to just through mediation - then you will probably both need to do a Form E which involves full financial disclosure. the system is slightly odd. as if say you have a car loan on a PCP that is classed as an "outgoing", but if you have a car bought outright or on a bank loan etc that is classed as an "asset" (odd, i know!). the debt will depend if it is joint debt, or if you were a secondary cardholder on say a joint credit card. if you have children under 18 the court will decide that the paying parent has to provide suitable accommodation until the age of 18, or which one starts full time education etc. if you are aiming to work certain hours after the split and try and get Universal credit then get advice on that too as i believe Spousal maintenance is classed as income and affects any benefits you may be entitled to, but child maintenance does not. i would best speak to either a CAB advisor who deals mainly in family law/debt, or a solicitor dealing in family law as this is one area where people get very entrenched on both sides and you really need someone neutral to referee!!!! good luck and apologies for the slightly lengthly post......

mrkitty55

thanks for the response.

Most of the debts have been buit up after the divorce, but not for my personal gain.

Solicitor for Children procedures (8 times court) 10K +
CMS miscalculated, I paid last year in 6 months 9k
Due to a bad year I had to go into liqudation of my Limited company - 20K

Currently I am working abroad and spend 1700£ for the house. 600£ pm to see the kids plus 550£ CMS. Have a tenant for 400£pm

My outgoing are around 5k a month.

I don't know how to go on from here as if I would rent in my area I would pay more then my mortgage.

Will the court request me to sell the house? I have 2 kids 9 & 16. If I sell the house and she gets 75% then after the sale and taken off my debts I would have about 13k left over. I spent 120K in payments for the house in the last 6 years.

My ex has council house and has 1700£ from Benefits and CMS every month. And the best part is that she has not paid a single penny in taxes in the last 12 years.

Caroline_a

You cannot claim any legal costs you have incurred for divorce or access out of the marriage assets. I doubt if you can claim for your company's liquidation either, or the miscalculation of child maintenance.

Did you not have a financial settlement arrangement set prior to your divorce? That is the usual way it happens. How much equity do you have in the house? Whether or not the house is in your sole name or not, it forms part of the assets of the marriage, so I would say that the courts would order you to sell it and divide the equity. Where do the children live? I'm assuming it's with her, and the fact that she has a council house means that they are at least housed safely.

Your ex's income and benefits are unfortunately nothing to do with you any more, as is the fact that she doesn't pay tax.

mrkitty55

so if I have to sell the house, it makes no sense. I have the kids every fortnight and 50% during school holidays.

As I live in Surrey, the rent for a 3 bedroom starts at 900£pm. My mortgage is currently at 1080£ and I need housing for the kids, too.

140000£ equity in the house.
140k - 54k my debts and her 20k equals 66000k

I could release equity to buy her out.

Caroline_a

Unfortunately the local renting situation and your business debts etc have no bearing on this. The courts will probably order you to sell the house or pay an amount of money equivalent to what you would owe to your ex - if you can release equity to do this then that would also work.

My ex was living in our co-owned house when we split up. He had our daughter half the holidays and every half term. I had her the rest of the time. Using your argument, he 'needed' somewhere for her to stay, but equally I 'needed' somewhere for her to live. Your ex wife is entitled to half of the marital assets - at least. The courts may order more - they did in my case, a split of 60%/40%.

I think you are just going to have to get used to the fact that the house will need to be sold, which is in all probability what the court will order. Also you cannot take your debts from the equity before you pay your wife out - she is not liable for these.