Sell or rent ?

davilown

As others have stated, your father will have a beneficial interest in the property. This is will normally start at 50% of any equity in until a court decides otherwise. 

If you sell, keep 50% in a separate account in case he comes looking for it.
if your mum gives it away, then, in theory, he could ask for your mums half as it wasn’t her money to give away.

You need specialist legal advice in how to proceed as well as to look at the whole process without any emotion. Emotions may be running high but, at the end of the day, they mean !!!!!! all in court.

Android07

I have decided to rent.

london21

Android07 said:

I have decided to rent.

Make sure you do your due diligence.
Which type of tenant are you going for? might be better going for a professionals.

If going for a person on UC, get them to agree to pay their payment directly as some tenants spend their UC rent payment. 

If selling, you mentioned your dad left valuation, why not have a discussion to get an idea of his expectations.
If he will not get 50%, his initial £10k deposit at least what it would be worth now.

Android07

london21 said:

Android07 said:

I have decided to rent.

Make sure you do your due diligence.
Which type of tenant are you going for? might be better going for a professionals.

If going for a person on UC, get them to agree to pay their payment directly as some tenants spend their UC rent payment. 

If selling, you mentioned your dad left valuation, why not have a discussion to get an idea of his expectations.
If he will not get 50%, his initial £10k deposit at least what it would be worth now.

I don't want my dad to get a penny. He will be dead in a few years hehe

I am not considering UC tenants. Might contact a letting agent.

seven-day-weekend

Android07 said:

RAS said:

The starting point is that although your dad is not on the deeds, he has a beneficial interest in the property.  And divorce normally assumes that the financial settlement will split assets between the couple "fairly" if not equally, based on need not input.

The house is an asset of the marriage and if mum were to sell and move, or even just rent and have savings, he can still apply for his share.

Matters are complicated by the fact that I don't think mum can even serve divorce papers if she doesn't know where he is. So it may be worth enquiring through the extended family.

Mum needs to speak to a family lawyer:

Check whether a legal separation is possible in his absence to protect future assets.
Make a will very carefully, as she may be able to leave some of her assets to people other than her husband.

Mum does not want a divorce. We know where he is. If something happens to mum, I am to inherit the property according to her will.

If we ignore my dad and sell the property, and he finds out and comes after us, can we not give him the £10k that he had deposited years ago and wish him good riddance? Why do we have to part with half the value of the property ( about £200k ) when he did not spend a penny beyond the £10k?

Because he has been married for a long time and the house is deemed to be an asset of the marriage, and therefore any profit from it, whether by sale or rental, usually has to be shared 50-50 in these circumstances. It is the starting point for any negotiation.  One of the functions of marriage is to prevent exactly the sort of thing you are proposing doing (although originally it was to protect women from having their homes sold over their head).