Can my partners ex wife claim our money/house?

HRH_MUngo

MalMonroe said:

HRH_MUngo said:

Many years ago, my friend's ex-wife was able to include his new wife's income to pay towards her children.

Never seemed right to me.  Her children were nothing to do with the new wife!

It seems right to me because they were not just HER children were they? They were THEIR children. Or was your friend not their father? If he was their father then those children definitely had everything to do with him.

Yes, I am not saying he shouldn't pay, of course he should.  But I don't see why a new spouse's income should be included when calculating   how much he has to pay. It should be based on his income only.  They are not the new spouse's children.

turnitround

HRH_MUngo said:

MalMonroe said:

HRH_MUngo said:

Many years ago, my friend's ex-wife was able to include his new wife's income to pay towards her children.

Never seemed right to me.  Her children were nothing to do with the new wife!

It seems right to me because they were not just HER children were they? They were THEIR children. Or was your friend not their father? If he was their father then those children definitely had everything to do with him.

Yes, I am not saying he shouldn't pay, of course he should.  But I don't see why a new spouse's income should be included when calculating   how much he has to pay. It should be based on his income only.  They are not the new spouse's children.

Can you image that from another viewpoint. A man marries a second wife who already has a couple of children and when those children are in need of something he says 'nothing to do with me, they are your children'. 

tightauldgit

Deleted_User said:

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

Absolutely she can claim it. She has a claim on her share of his assets and those are at least in part his assets. That's why it's so important to get a clean break agreement ASAP when divorcing.

TBagpuss

lisyloo said:

Deleted_User said:

Lpinkshoes 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 answer is that she isn’t entitled to your money but she may be entitled to his.
However you cannot physically split a house (you can split it nominally).

was this not considered when you purchased together?

a free half hour with a family law solicitor might be in order.

This.
If you own as Joint tenants then in the event that she made a claim, you and he would be presumed to own 50/50 and she would be able to claim against his 50%. 

If you own as tenants in common and have a declaration of trust in place showing what % interests you each have, based on your contributions, then she would only have a claim against his share .

The same s true with any other creditor - if your partner got into debt and his creditors took him to court and applied to enforce the debt against the house, they would only be entitled to 'hid' half of the equity.

Ideally, he should approach her about getting a clean break order put in place to avoid any risk either of her claiming against his interest in the house or against either of them claiming against the other's estate when the first of them dies.

She would of course also potentially be entitled to a share of any pensions or other assets he has, and he would be entitled to claim against hers

TELLIT01 said:

Silvertabby said:

HRH_MUngo said:

Many years ago, my friend's ex-wife was able to include his new wife's income to pay towards her children.

Never seemed right to me.  Her children were nothing to do with the new wife!

Happened to a friend.  When they got married, it was deemed that her new husband's living expenses were less/shared and so he had more 'disposable  income' for his children.

A similar thing happened to a work colleague.  I don't know the full details, but when she and her new husband extended their house, thereby increasing the value, the ex-wife put a claim in for a percentage of that increased value.  Sounds crazy to me, not knowing divorce laws, but it obviously does happen.

It's because when looking at a financial spill the court has to tr to be fair to both spouses, taking into account all circumstances including both parties needs and the needs of the children. If one party is cohabiting or has remarried then they do have lower needs, as the yare sharing their outgoings with their new partner, so they do, in fact have more disposable income.

It's why most family lawyers will advise against moving in with a new partner until after you have sorted out your divorce and financial settlement.

With regard to the house, it's likely that there was an order which gave the ex spouse a set % of the house value.

If the spouse living there chose to build an extension without first either  paying off their ex, or alternatively reaching an agreement with them to amend the order to reflect the planned change, then the ex would have been entitled  to what the order said.

The court always looks at the value of the assets as they are at the time the Judge is making the decision, so if someone didn't both to sort out the finances, and then built an extension or otherwise added value then the court will look at the current , not historic value. Of course, as the aim is to be fair over all, the court can be asked to consider what has happened during any period of delay and decide what adjustments are reasonable.  But of course, if the person in the house was in  a position to make expensive improvements tat may well mean that they were the partner in the stronger fincial position so an unequal split in favour of the other was always going to be reasonable