Divorce re-mortgage advice needed, mid 50s, low income

rizla83

Hi all,

a family relative is going through a divorce at present and is struggling to understand what his options are in terms of being able to stay in his house.

he is going through a divorce (at some point in the near future) and is currently living in the property. He understands that his wife is entitled to her half of the equity currently in the house. 

the property is worth roughly £100k and and has around £40k remaining on the mortgage. He is in his mid 50s and is only earning a low wage (£21k a year). He would need to find a way to re-mortgage the house so that he could give circa £30k (?) to his wife, but is unsure if this would be even possible?

i have no experience in this sort of thing and he is not one for posting on forums so i said i would see if anyone would be helpful enough to point us in the right direction.

how would this work in terms of how much he needs to re-mortgage for, what issues he would be facing given his age and low income?

any advice would be much appreciated. 

ACG

He would need to raise a mortgage of £40k (current balance) plus £30k (ex's share), £70k in total. 

Its feasible, but affordability is going to be tight I imagine. General rule of thumb is around 4.5x income, but due to the low income and reduced term, that will likely come down. 

He probably needs to have a play around on some affordability calculators or speak to a broker. 

gwynlas

Are there any children of the marriage hgoing to be living with him?

The length of the new mortgage will be dependent on age and potential retirement income.

Will his wife be entitled to half his pension?

If he does manage to hold on to the house renting a room would go some way to meeting his other expenses

Brie

He might need to think of alternatives. 

Do they both have pensions?  He could give a bigger share of his pension to his ex in exchange for not giving her anything from the house.  The split of equity isn't based simply on the house but all the other assets they both have.  It's possible if she's been a higher earner she will have more equity in her pensions and actually owe him.  

Do they both have cars?  Dess he own a VW up and she's got a Rolls?  How about savings accounts? ISAs? etc etc