Tenants in Common after divorce?

ktb

I would like to ask a question on behalf of my friend.

She is in the process of divorcing her husband and they have 2 children and a jointly owned marital home that she pays for. 

They are on amicable terms and they understand he is entitled to 50% of the equity in their home, but as she is due to remortgage next year, with all the turmoil with mortgages rates, he is offering to defer taking his equity to ensure his kids don’t lose their home & it is affordable for her to remortgage. 

Once divorced can they therefore become tenants in common to protect his equity before she remortgages? Will him being a tenant in common affect her ability to remortgage by herself at all? Thanks 

Scorpio33

If they are going from Joint tenants to tenants in common, it is still a legal process, which takes time and money. It also won't impact on his share as either way it is seen as a joint asset until they complete the financial agreement during (or after) the divorce process. 

Realistically, they need to agree as part of the divorce is his share 50% of the equity once its sold (or she re-mortgages) or 50% (so whatever figure) of the value now. They both need that in writing and agreed. There is nothing wrong with agreeing a figure now, but then doing the re-mortgage and paper work next year.

If she is re-mortgaging by herself, usually the bank requires that its just her on the deeds when she does re-mortgage, but again this is a legal process and is done at the same time as the re-mortgage goes through,