Taking on mortgage after divorce

shomk

My husband and I are getting a divorce.

It is an option that I buy him out the house, but this means taking on the mortgage by myself. I'm very concerned I'll be declined.

We are on an interest only mortgage (finances have been a problem, hence the divorce). We have some debts which I hope to clear and if I were looking to buy, I'd unlikely be earning enough. But I've effectively been paying for the mortgage myself the majority of the time anyway. We have 2 children and I want to keep the house for them. It's probably worth a good bit more than we paid for it, although we've not paid anything off.

By taking him off the mortgage will the mortgage company want me to remortgage/look at my finances, etc. I could have help from family if needs be.

How does it work?

tacpot12

The mortgage company will want to look at your finances. If they think that you can pay the mortgage yourself without problems they will let you take over the mortgage, but I doubt they will let you take over an interest-only mortgage, and it would be a bad idea to ask them to let you. 

Although your house has increased in value, the cost of any property you might move to will also have increased in value, so selling and buying somewhere smaller is not going to be easy, but you might be able to downsize to a mortgage you can afford.

The most realistic outcome is that your husband remains on the mortgage but moves out. He gives you child maintenance, which he can be forced to pay, and you use this to help cover the mortgage. You need to convert the mortgage back to a repayment mortgage asap, otherwise you will have nothing to leave your children.

If your family could make regular payments towards the mortgage this could help a lot, but you will need to come to some arrangement about whether they will become co-owners of the  property, or will the money be a gift? One-off gifts are less useful unless they reduce the mortgage to a level that you can afford to pay yourself. 

 

steampowered

This will be treated as a remortgage. 

Instead of the bank lending to both of you, the banks need to assess whether they can lend to you alone.

Have a look at mortgage calculators to assess how much you can borrow. You can try MSE's calculator at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/how-much-mortgage-borrowing/, though you can usually borrow a bit more than this calculator indicates.

Thrugelmir

Have you consulted a family solicitor?  The likely outcome is that you'll be able to remain in the property until the children have left full time education. The property will then be sold and the equity divided in accordance with the financial consent order that's drafted when you divorce. Worth bearing in mind that the courts assume guardianship of the children and their primary concern is the welfare of the children. Taking no sides with either parent. 

ACG

tacpot12 said:

The most realistic outcome is that your husband remains on the mortgage but moves out. He gives you child maintenance, which he can be forced to pay, and you use this to help cover the mortgage. You need to convert the mortgage back to a repayment mortgage asap, otherwise you will have nothing to leave your children.

The problem with this outcome is in 5-10-15 years down the line. If he wants a share of the house at that point once you have paid down the balance and see any increases, he may have a claim on it. 

The lender will want to assess you can afford the mortgage on your own. The way lenders do that differs and the fact you are on interest only may also affect that. 

This is me speaking personally, but if you can not get him off the mortgage now, I think you should consider looking at selling and drawing a line in your finances. Everything may be ok now, but what happens if he meets a new lady who gets in his ear or he becomes bitter about paying child maintenance and not having spare money for himself etc etc? 

Whatever you agree now. Get it written up legally and signed by both sides - have a look on here for people who were in a similar position to you now but kept everything as is only for it to be a problem down the line.