Divorce Advice

reallyconfusednow

No point. Idiotic responses have become the norm for MSE.

Comms69

Well I!!!8217;d start divorce proceedings now and see what a judge thinks. The issue she will have is that whatever document you signed is meaningless if the full payment wasn!!!8217;t made.

lizziebabe

Sorry to hear that things have not worked out for you. However it may be best to get legal advice and often solicitors will give the first half hour free or may give free phone advice.

You may be able to get back the £5000 that you never received but I don't know whether by signing the document you have forfeited getting any more money out of the house.

All the best and sort out the divorce so that you can move on.

reallyconfusednow

Thanks for the replies, I agree, if i have forfeited any rights then it's a lesson, albeit very expensive, learned. However, at the time i was under massive stress, depression, and my life was being made hell, i eventually accepted that offer on the basis of starting my life again not really considering how little £20k was in the overall scheme of things, i personally spent £28k on our wedding and £8k taking her away to propose alone, before any of the house things. When all said and done i'm set to lose best part of £120,000 at a very conservative estimate, and i'm struggling to see why at this point.

FBaby

So together for 8 years, married for about 5 years? It falls just around what would be considered a marriage by which any division would start at 50/50, regardless of who was paying what.

You'll have to fight for the above, she'll fight to say that your marriage was a short one. The house was purchased when you were married, so that will go in your favour.

She put the deposit down, you paid for the renovation. She paid the mortgage, you paid bills... What's the equity in the house? Not £240k surely? What you are set to lose is half the equity, everything else is what you chose to invest in the relationship. The wedding might have cost you a lot, but it might be what will get you something from the house, otherwise, your chances would have been next to nil.

mgdavid

think you've got 2 choices:

1. tie in the financial settlement to the divorce process, start now and see what the court thinks. This process could take a year or two, and cost you around £20k (or more) in legal fees with no guarantee of getting any extra out of it.

2. enforce the agreement you signed by claiming the unpaid £5k through the Small Claims Court. This will cost very little and without seeing the details should be an easy win. Once that is done (and the £5k received), then initiate divorce proceedings on the basis that the finances have already been agreed, so should also be a fairly quick and simple and cheap process.

Being pragmatic I'd go with option 2.

pinkshoes

How much was the house when you bought it? How much is it worth now?

I would be pushing for half the equity increase at least. Did she pay for any of the renovations with her money?

Her dad has failed to meet his side of the agreement so I would now see this is null and void, and pursue your ex wife for half the equity increase as well as half the cost of the renovations (assuming you paid it all).

You were married so the starting point is 50% of assets.

Perhaps use this to your advantage and state that having taken legal advice you want £55k (so an additional £35k) otherwise you will pursue her through the court for half the increase in equity and half the renovation costs.

TBagpuss

I agree with the resommendation to start divorce proceedings.

In relation to the £15,000 this would not prevent you from making a further financial claim. If you and she can't agree, ten a court would have to decide what was reasonable, taking into account all the circumstances.
The circumstances would include the facts that:
- you signed to say you would accept £20,000
- you didn't (I assume as you have not mentioned it) have full financial disclosure from your wife, or legal advice, when you signed.
- You did not, in fact, receive the full amount
- You have not taken any steps to pursue this for a couple of years
- this was a fairly short marriage
- you both made significant contributions.

Bear in mind that the amount you spent on the property may not be reflected in the value - e.g. you can spend £50,000 on a property but only increase its value by £25,000, so it will be relevant to look at
- what the property was worth when it was bought
- what it was worth when you and she separated
- what it is now worth
- how much the mortgage was at each of those points

It will also be relevant to look at any other assets either of you now has and what your incomes are.

I would suggest that you speak to a solicitor (have a look at https://www.resolution.org to find family law experts in your area) to get things moving.

dipsy

you can apply for a HR1 order on the house to stop her selling /borrowing against the house until you reach a financial settlement that is a start

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/601612/HR1__2017-04-01_.pdf

Then get all your statements showing payments for her car/house etc
Were the utilities in your name/paid for from your account?

Gather all this then got to see a solicitor for further advice, but put a charge on the house to prevent her from selling/borrowing etc...

reallyconfusednow

Thank you for the replies, in answer to the questions the house was £111,000 when purchased, I would imagine looking at local estimates the value now following renovations is around £185,000 - £190,000 - my wife never paid anything during our relationship and that isn't an exaggeration, whilst the mortgage was in her sole name, i transferred her between £1,000 and £1,500 per month to cover all expenses and bills including the mortgage payment (this can obviously be proved with bank statements) - i also paid for all the renovations, every holiday, items within the house i.e beds (i mention this as the bed/matress was £2,100 alone, tvs, kitchen, range oven, carpets, landscaping, doors, new windows, the list goes on, my wifes salary was hers to do with as she wished, never a question asked, hence feeling rather badly done to at present.

I have booked an appointment with a family law solicitor for this week so hoping I can at least begin proceedings and find out where I stand in relation to the above.

enthusiasticsaver

I agree you should be pushing for half the equity.

I am staggered you paid out for everything when your wife was working too and you had no kids (presumably?). Did you not question where her money was going?