Endowment Mortgage Coming To An End - Complicated

TheScarletPixie

I am hoping someone may be able to help me.  I was on a joint endowment mortgage with an ex partner years ago, they told me that they had taken me off the mortgage over 15 years ago.  I recently found out that I am still on the mortgage, which they have been paying regularly.  I did initially invest in the property with part deposit and paying my share of the mortgage, when we split they wanted to keep the property and I walked away leaving my investment tied up in the property.  My ex partner as I said did tell me they had taken me off the mortgage around the time we split.  I never received any documents, letters or anything from the mortgage lenders and thought I was no longer associated with the property.  Today I found out that I am still on the mortgage and on the deeds.  My ex partner has been in touch and wants me to sign a deed of trust that says I have no liability or interest in the property financial or otherwise.  

I do not know what plans they have in place to settle the balance of the mortgage.

My thoughts are that they want to sell and can't without my agreement or me signing the deed of trust, my instinct is telling me not to agree as if I sign it I assume I am signing away my initial investment that has certainly incresed due to house prices rising over the years.

Thank you.

400ixl

If the mortgage was an Endowment supported one then there are 3 elements.

Firstly is the mortgage itself that will have been interest only, assuming there were no overpayments, this means that there will be a date when the capital (equal to the original loan) will become due to be paid.

You then have the endowment which is a separate policy which will have been having monthly payments into which would pay off the mortgage when it matures (usually the same date as the mortgage). This would not be a guaranteed maturity amount as it is an investment policy. It could have performed better or worse that the prediction, so could mean a deficit to be paid to pay off the mortgage or could leave a surplus.

Finally you have the deeds for the property which would be in both your names for a joint mortgage most likely and also have a hold on it by the mortgage company which is released when the mortgage is paid. All parties on the deeds need to agree to any sale.

So, you need to understand where your name was or wasn't removed. Are you still named on the mortgage and the endowment as well as the deeds, just the mortgage and deeds, or just the endowment and deeds.

In order for the endowment to pay out, usually just before maturity they need to know where to pay the money, usually it is assumed to be going 50/50 to two accounts for a joint policy. Which ever way, they will want both parties to reply with where they want their half to go. You can allocate both payments to the same bank account, but one person cannot make that decision for the other (unless they forge their signature).

If you are still on the endowment, then you could be held responsible for half of any deficit to the mortgage, or equally could be entitled to half of the surplus.

The mortgage less so as it matures and provided the money is transferred to pay it off all is good.

Once the mortgage is paid off then you have the value in the property to consider. What proportion of that do you agree is payable to you. You are right in that by signing yourself off of the deeds you weaken your position.

I guess one question that may make this all moot is did you have a financial separation through the courts when you divorced and what did that say about the house. You may have signed your rights away at that point.

silvercar

 My ex partner has been in touch and wants me to sign a deed of trust that says I have no liability or interest in the property financial or otherwise.  

Clearly you aren’t going to sign anything without proof that you are off the mortgage. Also, you need to decide what you want out of the property. Just the money you put in back? Or a share of the increase in value over the last X years?