Separation

watsthecraic

After around 18 yrs of marriage a relative of mine & her husband are going to split up, neither have committed adultery or behaved unreasonably. They have 2 children, husband wants to stay in the family home with the children. He doesn't earn as much as my relative & couldn't afford to keep the mortgage payments going. My relative on the other hand could maintain the mortgage payments. He has no intention of leaving, the children want to stay with their mum. How can this be resolved?
If they sell the property is both of them entitled to a spilt 50/50 of any equity or will this be calculated on their individual earnings over the years they were together?
Appreciate advice please.

jamiehelsinki

A starting point would be 50/50 of all assets, this includes pensions etc.

If one parent has the children then they sometimes have a slightly higher percentage of the assets while if one partner is a lower earner this might entitle them to a slightly higher percentage as well.

Both are entitled to stay in the house unless a court order says otherwise!

Fireflyaway

How about not splitting up? Unless there is a serious reason, why not just make an effort to sort things out.

Comms69

watsthecraic wrote: »

After around 18 yrs of marriage a relative of mine & her husband are going to split up, neither have committed adultery or behaved unreasonably. They have 2 children, husband wants to stay in the family home with the children. He doesn't earn as much as my relative & couldn't afford to keep the mortgage payments going. My relative on the other hand could maintain the mortgage payments. He has no intention of leaving, the children want to stay with their mum. How can this be resolved?
If they sell the property is both of them entitled to a spilt 50/50 of any equity or will this be calculated on their individual earnings over the years they were together?
Appreciate advice please.

Yes, tell them to grow up and cohabit!

Gavin83

How old are the children? Was one of them a stay at home parent at some point? Who'd be doing the primary child care going forward?

TBagpuss

Short term, neither can make the other leave.

Longer time, It would be unusual for one spouse to remain living in the house if they are not able to afford the mortgage payments and other day to day outgoings.

It may be that the husband could afford to stay - has he looked into whether he would be eligible to claim any benefits / tax credits?

If he doesn't stay, he will need money from the equity or other assets to be able to find somewhere else to live. He and your relative will both need to look at their individual mortgage borrowing capacity to see what they will each need from the equity.

If your relative wants t stay in the house it isn't enough for her to be able to cover the mortgage payments - she needs to be able to borrow a lump sum to buy out her husband, too.

It may be that neither of them can afford to stay in the current house and that they will need to look at selling and both of them finding somewhere more affordable.

SO far as the children are concerned, their ages are very important - the older they are, the more their views would be taken into account. If they are in their teens, then their preferences about which parent to remain with are likely to be decisive. If they are much younger, then other factors like what the care arrangements have been until now, availability etc will be as / more important.