Thinking of buying wife a house and getting a legal separation

swingaloo

So following your plan and assuming that you buy your wife a house for 60 grand which has a 30 grand mortgage on it, what happens in a year or twos time when she meets someone else and moves them in?

A_Nice_Englishman

swingaloo wrote: »

So following your plan and assuming that you buy your wife a house for 60 grand which has a 30 grand mortgage on it, what happens in a year or twos time when she meets someone else and moves them in?

Or sells up and takes the equity and the kids back to Russia?

TBagpuss

You mention buying a property using £30K savings and a small mortgage - presumably you plan to remortgage the existing house in order to enable your wife to buy a property outright, so you would in fact be paying her a lump sum?

If you plan is to have a mortgage on the new property then you and she will be financially linked - you'd almost certainly need to be a joint owner of the new property, which leaves you financially linked.

Even if you reduce your hours to share care for your children, this may not result in a fair settlment, and it may be appropriate for you to pay some spousal support in the short term.

I'd suggest that you see a solicitor to discuss a Separation agreement. Your wife will need to have her own, independent advice. However, if you and she do come to an agreement having both had full disclosure and independent advice then yes, there is a good chance that a court would uphold that agreement.

In terms of UC, your wife owning the house she lives in won't stop her claiming, but owing a second property probably will, as she will have to declare it and its value will be treated as capital.

If the separation agreement provides for you to pay her a lump sum in return for her transferring her interest in the family home to you then she would no longer have an interest in the family home, for the purpose of her eligibility for benefits.
However, given her ownership of the Moscow property it's a bit academic as unlikely she will qualify fr UC - the cap is £16,000 but anything over £6,000 will reduce her entitlement. And I imagine that if they are told the property is worth £10K but used to be worth £50K they will ask a few more questions. She would of course also have to declare any income she gets from the flat - is it rented out?

DairyQueen

(sigh)

Should OP's not-so-cunning plan come off his newly-separated (and newly welfare-dependent) spouse will be entitled to free legal representation (legal aid). OP, on the other hand, will not. It will take a solicitor roughly 2 nano-seconds to view the facts from the perspective of the judiciary. I'm sure that the spouse's solicitor and barrister (if required) will be happy to pursue her case to an outcome consistent with the law of this country.

Why do I think that the OP is somewhat older than his spouse? (the 1970s patriarchal assumptions pehaps?).

The OP wishes to reduce his income simply to pass the burden of supporting his children to the taxpayer until such time that his wife is able to plug the gap. What a great moral perspective.

Good luck with that.

I reiterate.... nice try, no cigar.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Be prepared for the police visits to come up. If they were due to you losing your temper, you could easily find yourself without a house. Particularly if you speak to anybody in court in a similar tone you've adopted on here - particularly about her.

The_Maestro

swingaloo wrote: »

So following your plan and assuming that you buy your wife a house for 60 grand which has a 30 grand mortgage on it, what happens in a year or twos time when she meets someone else and moves them in?

I don't see how this affects the plan. I continue to pay the mortgage because that was what was agreed.

I would have a problem with this if, for example, I was expected to pay massive spousal maintenance for an extended period of time and she got with some bum who I was in effect paying for too. This happens a lot.

The_Maestro

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

Or sells up and takes the equity and the kids back to Russia?

That's a risk but it would be abduction. I would try to prevent it, e.g. notifying authorities if I thought it was going to happen but to be honest, she might be able to get away with that. I do think she has some better instincts though. My daughter absolutely loves me and she knows and acknowledges that.

The_Maestro

TBagpuss wrote: »

You mention buying a property using £30K savings and a small mortgage - presumably you plan to remortgage the existing house in order to enable your wife to buy a property outright, so you would in fact be paying her a lump sum?

If you plan is to have a mortgage on the new property then you and she will be financially linked - you'd almost certainly need to be a joint owner of the new property, which leaves you financially linked.

Even if you reduce your hours to share care for your children, this may not result in a fair settlment, and it may be appropriate for you to pay some spousal support in the short term.

I'd suggest that you see a solicitor to discuss a Separation agreement. Your wife will need to have her own, independent advice. However, if you and she do come to an agreement having both had full disclosure and independent advice then yes, there is a good chance that a court would uphold that agreement.

In terms of UC, your wife owning the house she lives in won't stop her claiming, but owing a second property probably will, as she will have to declare it and its value will be treated as capital.

If the separation agreement provides for you to pay her a lump sum in return for her transferring her interest in the family home to you then she would no longer have an interest in the family home, for the purpose of her eligibility for benefits.
However, given her ownership of the Moscow property it's a bit academic as unlikely she will qualify fr UC - the cap is £16,000 but anything over £6,000 will reduce her entitlement. And I imagine that if they are told the property is worth £10K but used to be worth £50K they will ask a few more questions. She would of course also have to declare any income she gets from the flat - is it rented out?

I agree with you completely. Regarding whether I remortgage the family home to get out another 30K to give her a lump sum, or just buy a home for her, pay the mortgage and agree that in the end its her house, that really depends on what it is possible for a court to order. I know that courts can order money to be paid from one person to another, they can order property to be transferred (Property Adjustment Order). But can they order that I buy a house with a mortgage and pay it off then transfer the house to her? Probably not, but I need to take legal advice on what is possible.

I did a bit of research into what the DWP consider to be 'capital' in terms of the £16,000 cap etc. and my reading of it is that the marital home would not be considered as her capital even after 26 weeks because she is not a joint tenant (not on the deeds, not on the mortgage), she is a beneficial owner. The marital home could only be considered as her capital after a property adjustment court order which would only happen if we went to court, or perhaps if the judge decided to ignore a consent order and issue other orders. This is contained in DWP ADM Chapters H1 and H2.

The flat abroad would probably disqualify her or greatly reduce UC though, that is true. I am not sure about real value of the property but I know its true that the Russian Ruble basically halved in value against GBP since the start of our relationship and also there has been quite a lot of damage to the property since then. I've suggested to her that a good plan could be to make the flat ship shape and rent it out to provide her some income, but that is difficult being a landlady from the UK. They don't have letting agencies like we do.

The_Maestro

DairyQueen wrote: »

(sigh)

Should OP's not-so-cunning plan come off his newly-separated (and newly welfare-dependent) spouse will be entitled to free legal representation (legal aid). OP, on the other hand, will not. It will take a solicitor roughly 2 nano-seconds to view the facts from the perspective of the judiciary. I'm sure that the spouse's solicitor and barrister (if required) will be happy to pursue her case to an outcome consistent with the law of this country.

Why do I think that the OP is somewhat older than his spouse? (the 1970s patriarchal assumptions pehaps?).

The OP wishes to reduce his income simply to pass the burden of supporting his children to the taxpayer until such time that his wife is able to plug the gap. What a great moral perspective.

Good luck with that.

I reiterate.... nice try, no cigar.

Haha I am 6 months older than her. Relevant if we were 1 year old but we are both in our 40s.

Which idiot would want to reduce their income? I want to increase my TIME. If my employer wants to pay me the same for working 3 days per week as they do for paying me 5 days per week, then woohoo for me. Why should I be lumbered with having to work more just because I have 'earning potential' but actually want to spend more time with the kids? Is this the face of feminism these days? Fighting against a pay gap? How about fighting against the child 'custody' gap? Don't assume all men can't give a !!!! about their kids and family and want to be going out working all the time. It is not true. Men are not your beasts of burden. You can't ahve your cake and eat it.

The_Maestro

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Be prepared for the police visits to come up. If they were due to you losing your temper, you could easily find yourself without a house. Particularly if you speak to anybody in court in a similar tone you've adopted on here - particularly about her.

I will speak to people talking rubbish of an internet forum how I like, and treat your comment with the contempt it deserves. I wish I could sue you for the 10 seconds of my life you just wasted.