Finally admitting I'm in debt :(

Silver_Queen

In regards to the house, please seek legal advice from a DV charity, citizens advice or even see if there is a family solicitors who will do pro bono or an hour of free advice or similar. It depends on the contents of this contract but if your ex owned the property and worked so that you could bring up the kids, you would likely be entitled to a share because you'd have a beneficial interest and the contract they had you sign may not be enforceable. Especially with the DV I think if you ended up in court any judge would look more favourably to your case. If you can't afford the court fees to bring proceedings you can apply for a fee waiver and the form is usually straightforward to fill in. I would say though if it comes to this you need to apply for a fee waiver from day one otherwise it gets harder, not easier to get one. Good luck!

MsVincy

StillStudenting wrote: »

Sorry - I had to sign away rights to this house 6 years ago - We lived in our first [house for 3 years then when ExH grandmother died her home went to her daughter (my Ex MIL) who then was pressured into giving it to ExH as he wanted us to have a 'big family home'. Worried about their family assets Ex MIL instructed her solicitor to produce a document which I had to sign to say I had no claim on the house.

Hi Stillstudenting

From what you have written I'm assumimg you are still married? If that's the case I'm not convinced that you have "signed away" your claim upon the family home. As another poster has said, irrespective of whose name is on the title , as a spouse you automatically have a beneficial interest in the matrimonial assets. Therefore, a claim is possible. If on the other hand what you are actually saying is that the house still belongs to your parents-in-law with your ex-partner's name added, but you perhaps signing a Declaration/Trust Deed then your claim is limited but not extinguished.

If you haven't already I would certainly recommend taking some preliminary legal advice. I'm not sure if I can signpost but there are very helpful charities that offer free legal advice by telephone if you are interested.

EssexHebridean

MsVincy wrote: »

StillStudenting wrote: »

Sorry - I had to sign away rights to this house 6 years ago - We lived in our first [house for 3 years then when ExH grandmother died her home went to her daughter (my Ex MIL) who then was pressured into giving it to ExH as he wanted us to have a 'big family home'. Worried about their family assets Ex MIL instructed her solicitor to produce a document which I had to sign to say I had no claim on the house.

Hi Stillstudenting

From what you have written I'm assumimg you are still married? If that's the case I'm not convinced that you have "signed away" your claim upon the family home. As another poster has said, irrespective of whose name is on the title , as a spouse you automatically have a beneficial interest in the matrimonial assets. Therefore, a claim is possible. If on the other hand what you are actually saying is that the house still belongs to your parents-in-law with your ex-partner's name added, but you perhaps signing a Declaration/Trust Deed then your claim is limited but not extinguished.

If you haven't already I would certainly recommend taking some preliminary legal advice. I'm not sure if I can signpost but there are very helpful charities that offer free legal advice by telephone if you are interested.

I fear that people may be raising OP's hopes falsely here - this is a house that was gifted as an inheritance, and there are all sorts of funny rules about what can, and can't, be done in relation to that scenario. Yes she should still look at getting it checked, but sorry OP, I fear you may not have any claim here as you suspected was the case. Of course it may well be that if the original family home was sold as a result of ExOH inheriting this one, that you would have a claim on any profit that was achieved from that sale.