Buying house during divorce

SBD90

Hi everyone. I am currently going through a divorce, my wife still lives in the marital home which is currently under offer and we have just about agreed through the solicitors what we will get in the split. I’m walking away with about 35% of the equity when the house sale goes through. I have seen a house I’d like to make an offer on and I’ll be using the equity from the house sale that I will get in the split. First of all does it work the same as normal when you’re in a chain and secondly would she then have any further claim to that property if say for example the house sale and purchase went through before the divorce was finalised? Thanks

SBD90

Just to add I know it’s potentially messy and ordinarily I’d let the dust settle before looking to buy again but it’s a rare opportunity so I’m pushing for it. 

jackieblack

Not sure where you are in the divorce process...
Your financial agreement (Consent Order) needs to be approved by a judge. You can only apply for this once you have your Decree Nisi and, once approved, it only becomes legally binding when the Decree Absolute is issued.
If these timescales, plus those of the sale of the FMH, line up with your prospective purchase - happy days!
If you press ahead with the sale of the FMH, divide the equity and make your new purchase before your CO is approved, you could have major problems if the judge doesn’t agree and yes, could potentially result in your ex having a claim on your new property.

SBD90

jackieblack said:

Not sure where you are in the divorce process...
Your financial agreement (Consent Order) needs to be approved by a judge. You can only apply for this once you have your Decree Nisi and, once approved, it only becomes legally binding when the Decree Absolute is issued.
If these timescales, plus those of the sale of the FMH, line up with your prospective purchase - happy days!
If you press ahead with the sale of the FMH, divide the equity and make your new purchase before your CO is approved, you could have major problems if the judge doesn’t agree and yes, could potentially result in your ex having a claim on your new property.

Would that even be the case if the only equity that were to be in the new home was the money that I’d received from the initial agreement. I’m probably way off here so correct me if I’m wrong but surely if we sign an agreement that I will receive 35% and then put that 35% into another property, if she came back for something out of the new house she’d be getting more than the initial agreement. 

SBD90

With regards to where we’re at she filed last month and I accepted the divorce but not the grounds. So it said she would either have to provide evidence of the grounds she’s filed under or change her reasoning. 

pphillips

SBD90 said:

jackieblack said:

Not sure where you are in the divorce process...
Your financial agreement (Consent Order) needs to be approved by a judge. You can only apply for this once you have your Decree Nisi and, once approved, it only becomes legally binding when the Decree Absolute is issued.
If these timescales, plus those of the sale of the FMH, line up with your prospective purchase - happy days!
If you press ahead with the sale of the FMH, divide the equity and make your new purchase before your CO is approved, you could have major problems if the judge doesn’t agree and yes, could potentially result in your ex having a claim on your new property.

Would that even be the case if the only equity that were to be in the new home was the money that I’d received from the initial agreement. I’m probably way off here so correct me if I’m wrong but surely if we sign an agreement that I will receive 35% and then put that 35% into another property, if she came back for something out of the new house she’d be getting more than the initial agreement. 

You're assuming that the financial order goes according to plan but it might not, you could be throwing a spanner in the works by holding up the divorce while also buying a new property.

Markneath

Selling the house and splitting the money is not the financial bit done and dusted you need the financial order for this to be done. 

If you both agree on the financial split it should be straight forward to get the financial order done. Mine was a nightmare my ex wife wanted to challenge everything. 

I didn’t agree with my ex wife’s reasons, my response was that I didn’t agree with her reasons but the marriage was broken beyond repair and I did not dispute the need for us both to divorce without delay. 

jackieblack

SBD90 said:

jackieblack said:

Not sure where you are in the divorce process...
Your financial agreement (Consent Order) needs to be approved by a judge. You can only apply for this once you have your Decree Nisi and, once approved, it only becomes legally binding when the Decree Absolute is issued.
If these timescales, plus those of the sale of the FMH, line up with your prospective purchase - happy days!
If you press ahead with the sale of the FMH, divide the equity and make your new purchase before your CO is approved, you could have major problems if the judge doesn’t agree and yes, could potentially result in your ex having a claim on your new property.

Would that even be the case if the only equity that were to be in the new home was the money that I’d received from the initial agreement. I’m probably way off here so correct me if I’m wrong but surely if we sign an agreement that I will receive 35% and then put that 35% into another property, if she came back for something out of the new house she’d be getting more than the initial agreement. 

Until the judge approves the CO there’s no guarantee that you’d be entitled to that 35%

The financial agreement needs to take into account all the assets of both parties, including pensions and any savings etc, everything goes in ‘the pot’ to be divided up. 

If, for example, you had a pension worth considerably more than your ex’s pension and didn’t want to give up part of that, the judge might consider that the offset of that reduced your share of the equity in the FMH.
I know several divorced couples where the husband wanted to keep all their pension pot and had to give up the equity in the FMH in order to achieve a fair split of the assets.

SBD90

jackieblack said:

SBD90 said:

jackieblack said:

Not sure where you are in the divorce process...
Your financial agreement (Consent Order) needs to be approved by a judge. You can only apply for this once you have your Decree Nisi and, once approved, it only becomes legally binding when the Decree Absolute is issued.
If these timescales, plus those of the sale of the FMH, line up with your prospective purchase - happy days!
If you press ahead with the sale of the FMH, divide the equity and make your new purchase before your CO is approved, you could have major problems if the judge doesn’t agree and yes, could potentially result in your ex having a claim on your new property.

Would that even be the case if the only equity that were to be in the new home was the money that I’d received from the initial agreement. I’m probably way off here so correct me if I’m wrong but surely if we sign an agreement that I will receive 35% and then put that 35% into another property, if she came back for something out of the new house she’d be getting more than the initial agreement. 

Until the judge approves the CO there’s no guarantee that you’d be entitled to that 35%

The financial agreement needs to take into account all the assets of both parties, including pensions and any savings etc, everything goes in ‘the pot’ to be divided up. 

If, for example, you had a pension worth considerably more than your ex’s pension and didn’t want to give up part of that, the judge might consider that the offset of that reduced your share of the equity in the FMH.
I know several divorced couples where the husband wanted to keep all their pension pot and had to give up the equity in the FMH in order to achieve a fair split of the assets.

Well we are both fairly young so pensions aren’t massive and have only been married 6 years (split 2 year ago) but I have agreed to give half of my pensions to her. She would keep hers. 35% of the equity of the FMH. I’m keeping around £15k of debt half of which was racked up during time together. I’m continuing to pay a hefty contribution to her car for the next 3 years and allowing her to keep her savings, I have none.

It looks as though she has accepted this so getting drawn to between solicitors.

BrassicWoman

no one cares about the reasons for a divorce unless she's alleging physical abuse. Not worth the delay; sign and get on with it.