Equity release

Shellfish13

My marriage has just broken down and my husband wants half the value of the house.Can I release equity to pay him?

Shellfish13

My marriage has just broken down and my husband wants half the value of the house.
Can I release equity to pay him?

girlchops

Hi Shellfish,
pls contact Stepchange, they're a charity and provide free and independent financial advice. They have specialists that deal with equity release and mortgages as well as general advisors for other money matters and debt. They will be able to advise you as to what the best course of action is for your situation.

https://www.stepchange.org/
https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/equity-release.aspx
https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/mortgages.aspx

Edi81

Equity release is for retired people. 

Depends on how old you are. 

Is there a mortgage on the property at the moment? Do you own joint or just you?
youve really not given enough information for any replies to be meaningful. 

simon_or

Shellfish13 said:

My marriage has just broken down and my husband wants half the value of the house.Can I release equity to pay him?

I think you've confused people with "release equity"

What you are looking to do is called a transfer of equity while buying out your ex.

The bank will check whether your solo income is sufficiently large to take the burden of the current mortgage plus the "extra borrowing" you need to pay off your ex.

A basic example.

Before -
Two borrowers with a joint mortgage
House worth 500k
Current mortgage 300k
Equity 200k (100k per borrower)

After -
One borrower on a solo mortgage
House worth 500k
Mortgage size 400k (original 300k plus 100k to pay off ex)
Equity 100k

Bank will check if your income will support a 400k mortgage and if it does you may be able to do it.

dunstonh

pls contact Stepchange, they're a charity and provide free and independent financial advice. 

Stepchange are very good but they do not provide independent financial advice (free or otherwise)

They do not charge an explicit fee but they receive commission for any equity release or mortgage products they put in place.

MWT

dunstonh said:

pls contact Stepchange, they're a charity and provide free and independent financial advice. 

Stepchange are very good but they do not provide independent financial advice (free or otherwise)

They do not charge an explicit fee but they receive commission for any equity release or mortgage products they put in place.

That would be true for all mortgage advisors though wouldn't it?

They do disclose that they will be receiving commission, and unlike all other equity release advisors that I am aware of, they make no other charges...

Edi81 said:

Equity release is for retired people. 

Depends on how old you are. 

ER is not just for 'retired people', being over 55 is sufficient. The distinction is important as ER is based on the youngest life, so there will be many cases where the oldest partner is indeed retired, but the youngest partner may have some years left before retirement.

As above though, I am not sure that this is really an ER question in the first place...

dunstonh

They do disclose that they will be receiving commission, and unlike all other equity release advisors that I am aware of, they make no other charges...

Equity release is not much different to mortgages.  Some small/localised brokers may have a charge and some may not.

That would be true for all mortgage advisors though wouldn't it?

Most of them.  Some rebate commission and work on a fixed fee (which can sometimes cost more but sometimes cost less)

MWT

dunstonh said:

They do disclose that they will be receiving commission, and unlike all other equity release advisors that I am aware of, they make no other charges...

Equity release is not much different to mortgages.  Some small/localised brokers may have a charge and some may not

That is a fair point, I am , or at least I was, aware of a small number of High St. lenders who were offering ER without advice charges, but on a very limited product portfolio. Not looked recently to see if they are still in the ER business as I know some have moved out of that sector.

I'm not aware of any brokers offering ER without an advice charge though, but they may exist...

K_S

@MWT I don't know of any brokers that offer ER without an advice fee. I'd explored getting into ER advice a few years ago but decided against. The amount of work involved was huge, and the total reward wasn't proportionate (imho). The ER compliance burden has probably gone up further with the introduction of consumer duty obligations around vulnerability. 

With respect to standard mortgage broking, I don't know of any firms that take a fixed fee from the applicant and rebate all of the proc fee to the applicant. I've heard that they exist but never actually known any. All the brokers I know keep the proc-fee and may or may not charge a fee to the applicant. In either case, there's no difference in the product that the applicant gets.

dimbo61

Sorry but you need to look at the Full picture and not just your home.
Savings, Cars and most importantly  Pensions must all be taken into account.
Any kids ? Shares ? Premium bonds, ISA,s AVC,s and other valuables.
Your age and how long you were married.
Time to see a family divorce solicitor