Spouse moved out. Bill-split?

Adamc

Hi all - looking for advice as opposed to judgement after the painful split of a relationship that wasn't working and only one party was willing to communicate. 

My spouse has left our marital home.

We each contributed 50/50 to household bills e.g. to the tune of £2000 per month.

My spouse has also withdrawn £1000 from the joint account this month and has said they will continue to contribute £1000 (rather than £2000) until the house is sold.

Utilities are actually all in my name so they are technically not liable for anything other than the mortgage which is jointly held?

I'd like to remain in the house until next summer due to early exit penalties on the mortgage but I could attempt to move out and sell sooner (during winter) if I'd be unwise not to?

Do I apply for the council tax discount immediately or would this have some bearing on financial settlement?

When do I stop paying life insurance? After finalisation?

No kids.

born_again

Selling house would not incur early exit penalties
Council tax, if they have moved out, tell them now.

itsthelittlethings

Stop paying life insurance now is what I'd do. 

Adamc

born_again said:

Selling house would not incur early exit penalties
Council tax, if they have moved out, tell them now.

We have till August left on our fixed deal. The EPCs may be around 6K.

Cobbler_tone

25% council tax reduction should be a priority and won't impact on your situation.
It totally depends on your financial ability to pay all the bills, mortgage aside. If someone is not living their you can't expect them to pay for the utilities, unless there is a big deficit when they moved out and that requires discussion. The mortgage is very different and they won't wriggle out of that one.

So your bills are £4000 per month?! Big mortgage?
Depending on what your mortgage payments are £1000 per month from your OH sounds reasonable (i.e. they haven't dumped and run) but they should be covering half of the mortgage.

Depends on how amicable you are but do you have options to extend the term or look into interest only to allow you to tread water until the house is sold? It is what we did.

Not sure on the question of life insurance. If it is just you and your OH you may want to ensure that you are both covered until settlement. If you have individual cover and you don't mind leaving the burden to them should the worst happen you could cancel it!
Not having children should make things simpler for you both. Good luck.

Adamc

Cobbler_tone said:

25% council tax reduction should be a priority and won't impact on your situation.
It totally depends on your financial ability to pay all the bills, mortgage aside. If someone is not living their you can't expect them to pay for the utilities, unless there is a big deficit when they moved out and that requires discussion. The mortgage is very different and they won't wriggle out of that one.

So your bills are £4000 per month?! Big mortgage?
Depending on what your mortgage payments are £1000 per month from your OH sounds reasonable (i.e. they haven't dumped and run) but they should be covering half of the mortgage.

Depends on how amicable you are but do you have options to extend the term or look into interest only to allow you to tread water until the house is sold? It is what we did.

Not sure on the question of life insurance. If it is just you and your OH you may want to ensure that you are both covered until settlement. If you have individual cover and you don't mind leaving the burden to them should the worst happen you could cancel it!
Not having children should make things simpler for you both. Good luck.

Thanks - we're both being reasonable as we can be though it is early days and neither of us has spoken to a solicitor yet. Spouse has agreed to pay half for fixed portion of utilities until the sale the of house. So half of standing charge for gas/electric. Half of broadband until fix ends. Half of council tax and mortgage. They have calculated it and it sounded fair to me. With this contribution I can continue to afford to live here without depending on overtime. 

Adamc

Cobbler_tone said:

.. Good luck.

I should probably also mention we have a joint account from which these bills are all paid.

born_again

Adamc said:

Cobbler_tone said:

.. Good luck.

I should probably also mention we have a joint account from which these bills are all paid.

You should be reporting to bank as a jt acc dispute. Then neither can empty the account.

saajan_12

Adamc said:

Cobbler_tone said:

25% council tax reduction should be a priority and won't impact on your situation.
It totally depends on your financial ability to pay all the bills, mortgage aside. If someone is not living their you can't expect them to pay for the utilities, unless there is a big deficit when they moved out and that requires discussion. The mortgage is very different and they won't wriggle out of that one.

So your bills are £4000 per month?! Big mortgage?
Depending on what your mortgage payments are £1000 per month from your OH sounds reasonable (i.e. they haven't dumped and run) but they should be covering half of the mortgage.

Depends on how amicable you are but do you have options to extend the term or look into interest only to allow you to tread water until the house is sold? It is what we did.

Not sure on the question of life insurance. If it is just you and your OH you may want to ensure that you are both covered until settlement. If you have individual cover and you don't mind leaving the burden to them should the worst happen you could cancel it!
Not having children should make things simpler for you both. Good luck.

Thanks - we're both being reasonable as we can be though it is early days and neither of us has spoken to a solicitor yet. Spouse has agreed to pay half for fixed portion of utilities until the sale the of house. So half of standing charge for gas/electric. Half of broadband until fix ends. Half of council tax and mortgage. They have calculated it and it sounded fair to me. With this contribution I can continue to afford to live here without depending on overtime. 

That sounds more than fair on ex's part, since they may also have to pay their own fixed living costs. Does that total to £2000 a month? Which means the usage part of utilities and maybe food is the other £2000 a month? Seems odd.. 

Adamc said:

I'd like to remain in the house until next summer due to early exit penalties on the mortgage but I could attempt to move out and sell sooner (during winter) if I'd be unwise not to?

How much is the ERC - sometimes its a low % in the final year and together with the 10% overpayment allowed, it may not be too significant. 
On the other hand if you started advertising now vs next Spring may not make much difference, except with the latter a sale might complete in summer. 

Cobbler_tone

Adamc said:

Cobbler_tone said:

.. Good luck.

I should probably also mention we have a joint account from which these bills are all paid.

I found it useful to separate accounts ASAP. The only thing (arguably) worth keeping to a joint account is the mortgage, although as I was paying it I switched to my personal account. 
Things can be amicable, until they are not!

I wouldn't definitely suggest mediation ahead of any solicitor. The latter knows how to generate business and will fill both of your heads with all manner of suggestions, often counter productive ones. It is always best to know what you want (including each other compromising at times) to get a solicitor to get it signed off. As opposed to negotiating via solicitors.

Adamc

saajan_12 said:

Adamc said:

Cobbler_tone said:

25% council tax reduction should be a priority and won't impact on your situation.
It totally depends on your financial ability to pay all the bills, mortgage aside. If someone is not living their you can't expect them to pay for the utilities, unless there is a big deficit when they moved out and that requires discussion. The mortgage is very different and they won't wriggle out of that one.

So your bills are £4000 per month?! Big mortgage?
Depending on what your mortgage payments are £1000 per month from your OH sounds reasonable (i.e. they haven't dumped and run) but they should be covering half of the mortgage.

Depends on how amicable you are but do you have options to extend the term or look into interest only to allow you to tread water until the house is sold? It is what we did.

Not sure on the question of life insurance. If it is just you and your OH you may want to ensure that you are both covered until settlement. If you have individual cover and you don't mind leaving the burden to them should the worst happen you could cancel it!
Not having children should make things simpler for you both. Good luck.

Thanks - we're both being reasonable as we can be though it is early days and neither of us has spoken to a solicitor yet. Spouse has agreed to pay half for fixed portion of utilities until the sale the of house. So half of standing charge for gas/electric. Half of broadband until fix ends. Half of council tax and mortgage. They have calculated it and it sounded fair to me. With this contribution I can continue to afford to live here without depending on overtime. 

That sounds more than fair on ex's part, since they may also have to pay their own fixed living costs. Does that total to £2000 a month? Which means the usage part of utilities and maybe food is the other £2000 a month? Seems odd.. 

Adamc said:

I'd like to remain in the house until next summer due to early exit penalties on the mortgage but I could attempt to move out and sell sooner (during winter) if I'd be unwise not to?

How much is the ERC - sometimes its a low % in the final year and together with the 10% overpayment allowed, it may not be too significant. 
On the other hand if you started advertising now vs next Spring may not make much difference, except with the latter a sale might complete in summer. 

They're moving in with family for now rent free. As you say it is more than fair for which I am grateful. But would this be seen as unfair on them from a legal standpoint? Yes food would normally come out of that account and other fixed costs such as subscriptions etc. I will look to move costs into a personal account at some point.