Am I being too cautious?

Mojisola

Katykat said:

And him giving her the equity is in exchange for a reduced level of child support for a specific length of time. 

I would be wary of this unless he has taken legal advice. 

crv1963

OP- his wife can claim benefits while he still lives there, they will be paid at a reduced rate as they take his contribution to the house into account. He needs to think this through properly and take some advice from a solicitor. Any divorce should be as watertight as they can make it.

There are two parts to the divorce, the annulment- marriage ended, the easy bit, although it can be emotionally draining. Then the settling of joint finances. The courts need to ensure both are housed and the needs of the children remain the priority. Everything goes into the pot, home equity, pensions, savings and joint debt. The settlement will trade one thing off for another, so maybe she'll get less of his pension for more of the equity and so on.

He and you must try to keep emotion out of it as hard as this is to do. My divorce was amicable until it came down to the finances, and he wants to be careful that he doesn't hand over the equity and the next day she contacts the Child Support people and they will not take the equity into account when making their calculations only his income.

I'd encourage him not to move out, unless absolutely needing to. To see a Solicitor and if it is amicable get a Separation Agreement drawn up. The cost will be worth the peace of mind and lay out both of their thinking for any future court hearing/ settlement. 

sweetsand

Dear OP
Having read your comments, I am feeling for you!!
What some of the others have stated here is good, especially Bagpuss.
Rest assured once this nightmare is over, you will be the better for it.

Please, please take legal advice, the jokers are expensive but the right one is worth their weight in gold.

ATB
x

burlingtonfl6

ontheroad1970 said:

burlingtonfl6 said:

Katykat said:

My son is separating from his wife ( her decision, she said she doesn’t love him any more) They have been married 10 years & have 3 children. The house has just been sold, awaiting conveyancing. There won’t be much equity ( about £25k & he has said she can have that because she will need it to buy a house. Even with that & him paying child support, she will still need to claim benefits. There’s the rub. She has to be on benefits for 6 months before she can get a mortgage. But in order to claim, she has to be a single parent, which means he has to leave the home until it’s sold. And that’s what worries me. Things are very amicable between them right now but I’m afraid that if he leaves, even if they have shared custody, that it will be viewed as him abandoning the children. This would absolutely not be the case, he is a responsible parent and he earns a reasonable salary, but not enough to buy 2 houses. Am I being over anxious? What pitfalls could there be in this scenario?

She isn't going to get a mortgage so don't worry about that.

Did you have sensitivity removed at birth?  Nearly every response you give is insensitive and snarky.  Just sayin...

Facts don't care about your feelings