Can my partners ex wife claim our money/house?

[Deleted User]

Hiya there

i know ideally I should ask a solicitor but just curious.

if my and my partner have a house held jointly in our names and a bank account held jointly in our names, can his ex wife claim any of that?

they are divorced but no clean break clause.

thanks

pinkshoes

If there is no clean break consent order and there is good reason why money is owed, then yes, of course the ex can claim.

Is any money owed to the ex wife? I'm assuming the divorce was some time ago? Is she asking for money?

[Deleted User]

pinkshoes said:

If there is no clean break consent order and there is good reason why money is owed, then yes, of course the ex can claim.

Is any money owed to the ex wife? I'm assuming the divorce was some time ago? Is she asking for money?

No she isn’t and it was just a thought I had.

But how is she entitled to MY house and MY money?

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User said:

pinkshoes said:

If there is no clean break consent order and there is good reason why money is owed, then yes, of course the ex can claim.

Is any money owed to the ex wife? I'm assuming the divorce was some time ago? Is she asking for money?

No she isn’t and it was just a thought I had.

But how is she entitled to MY house and MY money?

And no, no money is owed!

prowla

Deleted_User said:

pinkshoes said:

If there is no clean break consent order and there is good reason why money is owed, then yes, of course the ex can claim.

Is any money owed to the ex wife? I'm assuming the divorce was some time ago? Is she asking for money?

No she isn’t and it was just a thought I had.

But how is she entitled to MY house and MY money?

I think the point is that it's not YOUR house - it belongs to your and your partner.

Can't speak as to the preexisting arrangements, details and legalities of the particular situation, though.

doodling

Hi,

Without a consent order in place your husband's ex can (re)open discussions about the financial split at any time.

In the absence of clear evidence to the contrary, a the value in a jointly owned property or jointly held bank account would be deemed to be equally held by you and your partner.

So, in a very simple case, if your husband's ex decided that she was due some more money then half of the equity in the house and half of the value in the joint bank account would be up for grabs.

Of course, if you could show that you paid for the house and that your partner had contributed nothing financially to the relationship then those assets might be disregarded. The easy way of looking at this is to ask who would get what if you and your partner split up and whether you can prove why that would be the case. Note that the longer your relationship lasts, the harder it is to demonstrate these things. 

Whilst there is an element of letting sleeping dogs lie, it is probably in your partners (and maybe your) best interests for him to finish the financial aspects of the divorce and get a consent order.

74jax

Deleted_User said:

pinkshoes said:

If there is no clean break consent order and there is good reason why money is owed, then yes, of course the ex can claim.

Is any money owed to the ex wife? I'm assuming the divorce was some time ago? Is she asking for money?

No she isn’t and it was just a thought I had.

But how is she entitled to MY house and MY money?

Because your partner didn't fully cut ties financially with his ex wife. Then took out joint possessions with you.  Why he did that, we don't know. You need to ask him. 
 
It is your partner who chose to purchase as joint with you, not his ex wife.  Who from him doing this, can now claim (maybe).

Your partner and his ex signed a contract, unless your partner gets a financial clean break to break the contract he is obviously happy to carry on with the status quo. 

What were his reasonings to go joint with you, knowing his ex and he still did not have a clean break?

You ask why, it's purely because he and you own everything 'jointly', I have no idea why he did this but he must have his reasons. 

CookieMonster

74jax said:

What were his reasonings to go joint with you, knowing his ex and he still did not have a clean break?
 

In my experience very people know that a financial clean break is needed.

Thrugelmir

CookieMonster said:

74jax said:

What were his reasonings to go joint with you, knowing his ex and he still did not have a clean break?
 

In my experience very people know that a financial clean break is needed.

Those that DIY and do not consult a solicitor. 

MobileSaver

CookieMonster said:

74jax said:

What were his reasonings to go joint with you, knowing his ex and he still did not have a clean break?

In my experience very [few] people know that a financial clean break is needed.

Twenty years ago maybe but it's hard to believe that is still true in recent years with anything and everything available at the click of a button.

Your partner's solicitor at the time would absolutely have raised the issue. Even (or maybe especially) if going DIY one of the first things people would surely do is Google what was involved in divorce and the importance of sorting the financials would be made crystal clear.

It's quite understandable that you would have had little reason to query things when your partner told you they were divorced but it beggars belief your partner didn't warn you there was no clean break before jointly buying a home with you.

As has already been said, it is not YOUR house or YOUR  money. Both jointly belong to you and your partner and if anyone, including your partner's ex, has a valid claim against your partner then yes they can potentially take a percentage of one or both away. (Of course, it works both ways, if anyone has a valid claim against you for any reason then they can also take from the joint assets or money.)

pinkshoes

Deleted_User said:

pinkshoes said:

If there is no clean break consent order and there is good reason why money is owed, then yes, of course the ex can claim.

Is any money owed to the ex wife? I'm assuming the divorce was some time ago? Is she asking for money?

No she isn’t and it was just a thought I had.

But how is she entitled to MY house and MY money?

Because it's not YOUR house or YOUR money as you said it was in joint names.

So if the ex feels that the finances were not sorted out properly, then she is quite entitled to seek a clean financial break further down the line. 

You would then need receipts to show your own contributions, as it would otherwise be assumed that half the assets are his and open for taking.