How to buy me out ?

angelinamay

Good evening and happy 2024 everyone. 

My husband, whom I left 10 years ago has agreed to buy me out of the marital home.  He refuses point blank to sell up and move to pay me off. We're not at the divorce stage. As WE bought it during a long marriage, am I entitled to half the current value please?

Brie

You are entitled to a fair division of the marital assets.  So he might get a portion of things you have as well as you getting a portion of what he has.  If nothing has been agreed so far that might include property/assets you both have accrued since your split.  It will also include things like accrued pension benefits, savings accounts etc.  If either of you think that something should be excluded from this split then you would need to have a good case to have that happen.  

If things aren't amicable then you may need to look at mediation.  If he doesn't have the cash to buy you out of the marital home you might have consider taking a larger portion of his pension etc.  

Devongardener

You have to take legal advice before agreeing to anything.   Do you mean you split up 10 years ago but haven’t considered divorce?
Is the house owned jointly, with both on the deeds?  If so you should be entitled to 50% of the value, but your husband will probably put forward his case for more having lived in and presumably maintained it for 10 years.

angelinamay

Brie said:

You are entitled to a fair division of the marital assets.  So he might get a portion of things you have as well as you getting a portion of what he has.  If nothing has been agreed so far that might include property/assets you both have accrued since your split.  It will also include things like accrued pension benefits, savings accounts etc.  If either of you think that something should be excluded from this split then you would need to have a good case to have that happen.  

If things aren't amicable then you may need to look at mediation.  If he doesn't have the cash to buy you out of the marital home you might have consider taking a larger portion of his pension etc.  

Thank you Brie. The reason I need the money from a buy out is, my health is suffering and need to move to single story home.

angelinamay

Devongardener said:

You have to take legal advice before agreeing to anything.   Do you mean you split up 10 years ago but haven’t considered divorce?
Is the house owned jointly, with both on the deeds?  If so you should be entitled to 50% of the value, but your husband will probably put forward his case for more having lived in and presumably maintained it for 10 years.

Thank you Devongardener.  Yes, we haven't considered divorce, mainly because neither of us want to give silly amounts of cash to Solicitors really.  It is jointly, and according to the deeds both are 100% owners (or whatever terminology is used) maintained it for 10 years? The carpets are the SAME carpets that was there the day we moved in (2005) the wallpaper in the lounge was hung in 2011. The only difference is, a new front door.  He has maintained the garden. He also cannot move in the garages as they're full of items he's storing for other people!!

Brie

But does he have the cash?  Or can he get a mortgage on it?  If he doesn't have any money or source of money he hasn't any to give to you.  But just as you can get half of the value of the house he lives in, he can get half of the value of the house you live in - or he can try to.  It will all depend on how reasonable you both want to be.

angelinamay

Brie said:

But does he have the cash?  Or can he get a mortgage on it?  If he doesn't have any money or source of money he hasn't any to give to you.  But just as you can get half of the value of the house he lives in, he can get half of the value of the house you live in - or he can try to.  It will all depend on how reasonable you both want to be.

Thank you.  He's 74, I'm 69.  The marital property is valued almost £500k, mine is valued at £145k.  He offered me £100k so I assume he has that much, but of course I won't accept that.  We're on good speaking terms,

Emmia

angelinamay said:

Devongardener said:

You have to take legal advice before agreeing to anything.   Do you mean you split up 10 years ago but haven’t considered divorce?
Is the house owned jointly, with both on the deeds?  If so you should be entitled to 50% of the value, but your husband will probably put forward his case for more having lived in and presumably maintained it for 10 years.

Thank you Devongardener.  Yes, we haven't considered divorce, mainly because neither of us want to give silly amounts of cash to Solicitors really.  It is jointly, and according to the deeds both are 100% owners (or whatever terminology is used) maintained it for 10 years? The carpets are the SAME carpets that was there the day we moved in (2005) the wallpaper in the lounge was hung in 2011. The only difference is, a new front door.  He has maintained the garden. He also cannot move in the garages as they're full of items he's storing for other people!!

If you're amicable and can work out a fair split you can do most of it yourself. It gets expensive with lawyers if one or both of you are adversarial. 

If you're not in the best of health, but still married to him do you have a will which cuts him out, or are you ok with the intestacy rules which would give him as the legal spouse your estate?

angelinamay

Emmia said:

angelinamay said:

Devongardener said:

You have to take legal advice before agreeing to anything.   Do you mean you split up 10 years ago but haven’t considered divorce?
Is the house owned jointly, with both on the deeds?  If so you should be entitled to 50% of the value, but your husband will probably put forward his case for more having lived in and presumably maintained it for 10 years.

Thank you Devongardener.  Yes, we haven't considered divorce, mainly because neither of us want to give silly amounts of cash to Solicitors really.  It is jointly, and according to the deeds both are 100% owners (or whatever terminology is used) maintained it for 10 years? The carpets are the SAME carpets that was there the day we moved in (2005) the wallpaper in the lounge was hung in 2011. The only difference is, a new front door.  He has maintained the garden. He also cannot move in the garages as they're full of items he's storing for other people!!

If you're amicable and can work out a fair split you can do most of it yourself. It gets expensive with lawyers if one or both of you are adversarial. 

If you're not in the best of health, but still married to him do you have a will which cuts him out, or are you ok with the intestacy rules which would give him as the legal spouse your estate?

Thank you Emmia,  I DO have a will, leaving all to our 2 sons.

Savvy_Sue

Divorce doesn't have to be adversarial or that expensive: a good place to start might be Wikivorce which will if nothing else help you see what might be a fair split in the event of divorce. Mediation to reach agreement definitely money better spent than on solicitors. Also worth you knowing how much you WOULD accept: what would you actually need to buy a more suitable property? Sometimes worth accepting less than what you might be entitled to, to save spending more than the difference on a legal battle ... 

BrassicWoman

What you are entitled to in the event of divorce is not the same as what you are entitled to as a married women. The division of assets is theoretical and unenforcable until you start legal action.

If 100k is what he has, and you do not want to start divorce proceedings, then I am afraid 100k may be what you get.