Am I entitled to anything?

Welshman81

My wife and I have been together 8 years married 6 with child 3. She owned her house just before we met, i moved in and lbeen living there 7 years. The agrement at time she paid morgage i payed all the bills seemed fair. She then changed job and we were expecting our child, she fell behind with morgage payments so i started to pay missesd ones and all bills, for last 4 years Id say ive payed nearly 2/3 of morgage payments if not more and all bills. She now wants to seperate and kicked me out of house, Ive been told im entitled to nothing is this true? My names not on the morgage. Any help? Thank you

theoretica

Are you divorcing, or currently just separating?

Welshman81

Seperating for now, i now have moved back in with parents.

Welshman81

Forgot to mention that also paid for training, stock and missed payments to the certain franchise company on her self employed business over past 3 years.

Ozzuk

What is the equity position? You are likely entitled to a share of any potential increase in equity. The definition of a short marriage varies, I've seen 2, 7 and 10 years used but if your partner has money issues, will need the house for the child (assuming she has PR) then you might be better off just writing it off, again it depends on equity position.

Just to add, I mentioned short marriage as if that is the case then its common that any agreement will try and get you close to the position before the marriage.

Welshman81

I doubt there is much equity value in the property as they stay reasonably stable around the area we are in. Even if there was some value there my share probably wouldnt be worth the fight. I can prove through bank statements everything ive payed out on house i.e morgage bills repairs(new roof). Same with money payed to her business. All transactions i made sure i payed companies direct by card and not transfering money to her to pay them. Surely i must be able to reclaim some of this from her as im no longer in the property ive kept running for years and she will now benefit from? Dont get me wrong i do not want our child to be affected by all this.

ChrisK....._3

It doesn't matter who's name is on the paper if you have evidence of contributing to the mortgage payments then you have bought into the house. But silly not making a more formal arrangement in the first place. My sis in law has just bought a brand new house and her long term partner has moved in with her and I told her if she wants to keep it then make sure her partner only contributes towards bills and not the house itself

Welshman81 wrote: »

My wife and I have been together 8 years married 6 with child 3. She owned her house just before we met, i moved in and lbeen living there 7 years. The agrement at time she paid morgage i payed all the bills seemed fair. She then changed job and we were expecting our child, she fell behind with morgage payments so i started to pay missesd ones and all bills, for last 4 years Id say ive payed nearly 2/3 of morgage payments if not more and all bills. She now wants to seperate and kicked me out of house, Ive been told im entitled to nothing is this true? My names not on the morgage. Any help? Thank you

Spendless

Who has told you you're not entitled to anything?

It's a 'how long is a piece of string' question and answer this.

The starting point is 50/50 but then adjustments will be made for things like length of marriage, children from marriage, pensions, if the house was previously owned by one party, if one has been/is restricted in working due to childcare commitments, as well as any savings, investments and a whole heap of other things I've not thought of or put down.

It may well be that your share comes to nothing once all this has been taken into consideration, or you may be entitled to something.

Until you go through the process you won't know.

FBaby

Are you in Wales? I think this is one area where the rules upon divorce might defer in England than elsewhere. In England, marital assets are that, whether bought before marriage or not, but I think it is different at least in Scotland.

Maybe someone legal can confirm because the above assertion is only based on what I think I've read on forums, so could be totally wrong, however there might be some truth behind it which could explain why you've been told you wouldn't be entitled to anything if indeed there is no or not much equity in the property.

theoretica

You are not (yet) divorcing, so I believe most of the rules and potential adjudication do not come into play. You might want to read about a legal separation.


It is very unlikely you will have a claim against anything other than a part of the increase in equity built up over the time you were married. You can't wish back spent money, only divide what there is, and it doesn't sound like there is much net worth to divide. Only perhaps equity in the house - and if this is still your child's home that will take priority.



Also, if your wife had been earning more and contributing half to the mortgage, you would have been contributing half to larger child care bills.

unholyangel

FBaby wrote: »

Are you in Wales? I think this is one area where the rules upon divorce might defer in England than elsewhere. In England, marital assets are that, whether bought before marriage or not, but I think it is different at least in Scotland.

Maybe someone legal can confirm because the above assertion is only based on what I think I've read on forums, so could be totally wrong, however there might be some truth behind it which could explain why you've been told you wouldn't be entitled to anything if indeed there is no or not much equity in the property.

You are correct, its different up here.

Here matrimonial property is property acquired during the marriage but before the relevant date (date of separation), with an exception for gifts or inheritance.

So anything you own prior to marrying, anything gifted or bequeathed to you typically won't be considered an asset of the marriage. Unless perhaps you purchased a house before you married but in contemplation of that marriage, to be used as the family home. Or if you inherit/are gifted £100,000 and then use that money to buy a family home.