Advice Required

Habib2342

Happy new year to all...

ok, so to the point. How do you protect a former spouse making a claim against the equity in a property ? the equity is split 57%/43% between the contributor and legal owner respectively. In the event a sale is forced by court, can the legal owner's share( the 43%) be protected against any future claim without transferring the equity to the contributors's name and the contributor taking on a new mortgage ?

thanks.

Bossypants

Need more detail. For starters, who are the contributor and legal owner, and what is their relationship to the former spouse?

elsien

Was a financial settlement agreed at the point of divorce? Was the property owned at the time of the marriage?
How former is the former spouse and was the property the marital home?

You're going to have to help us out a little here.

Habib2342

the equity split is detailed in the deed of trust which was drawn up at the time the property was purchased. The contributor is our mother and the legal owner is my brother. His wife left him two years ago and my brother has only just begun to initiate divorce proceedings. They lived together for a month before she walked out and does not want to return. I think once she gets wind of divorce proceedings have started, she will be out for a claim against the property , how can we protect against this ?

Bossypants

You can't really do much to protect against this yourselves, but for what it's worth, on those facts alone it seems unlikely that the courts would allow her claim (assuming that she contributed nothing herself and you have not omitted any salient facts). In situations where the marriage was short and there are no children or other complications, the aim of the courts is generally to put people back in the position they were before the marriage as much as possible. There's not much you can do to stop her trying, but if your brother gets a good solicitor and puts forward a fair and honest account of what happened, I don't see her getting very far.

Habib2342

actually she walked out on him as she was not aware of the full extent of his mental health condition ( schrizophrenia) which became apparent once they had an argument....how will the courts view this ?

Bossypants

Habib2342 wrote: »

actually she walked out on him as she was not aware of the full extent of his mental health condition ( schrizophrenia) which became apparent once they had an argument....how will the courts view this ?

Your brother really needs to consult an expert on this, but my understanding from my own dealings on the topic, the courts are usually looking to achieve a 'fair' outcome as much as possible. So, if A and B are married for 30 years and A focuses 100% on career while B stays at home to raise the children/manage the home/otherwise support A, then it's not 'fair' that B get nothing when they split, because B sacrificed their own ability to have a career/make money in order to allow A to focus 100% on theirs while still having a family and a comfortable home life.

In your case, it sucks for the ex wife that she was misled, but it doesn't sound like she's taken a current or future loss to her earning power because of it, so the courts have no reason to award her an interest in the house.

But again, your brother really needs to get an expert involved if she does try anything.

Cakeguts

I don't think we have enough information to give advice on this. There is something missing from the story. I don't understand how someone can marry anyone without knowing that they have a serious mental illness. It means that the marriage was built on a lie. If the marriage was built on a lie we can't be sure that the brother isn't lying about anything else to do with the finance of his marriage.



I would suggest professional legal advice where the brother is completely honest.

Habib2342

well it was an arranged marriage of sorts that took place abroad. She was aware that he had depression but our mother said it was nothing serious. I did protest this at the time but she was having none of it. In the end we were overly optimistic about how things would play out and it blew up in our faces. In any case, its been two years plus since she left so you would think she would've have attempted to make a claim in that time - which she hasn't.

She isn't aware about how the ownership of the flat is structured but she lived with him for a month without working or contributing anything to the flat...After her departure, my brother lost his job and we ended up having to get him sectioned. Thankfully he's now back on his feet and in employment and trying to move on with his life...but I think he needs to tie up this loose end asap...

silvercar

Habib2342 wrote: »

the equity split is detailed in the deed of trust which was drawn up at the time the property was purchased. The contributor is our mother and the legal owner is my brother. His wife left him two years ago and my brother has only just begun to initiate divorce proceedings. They lived together for a month before she walked out and does not want to return. I think once she gets wind of divorce proceedings have started, she will be out for a claim against the property , how can we protect against this ?

So the question is whether the ex-wife has a claim on a property she lived in for only one month?

Was the property bought before the marriage and did your brother live in it prior to the marriage?

silvercar

well it was an arranged marriage of sorts that took place abroad

Check on the legalities of this, both here and abroad. If it was only a religious ceremony abroad, it may not be valid on the UK and therefore a formal divorce wouldn't be applicable. If it was a UK recognised marriage, then you need to examine the legalities of divorcing here rather than overseas. The financial settlement may be different depending where you divorce.