financial/property rights after divorce

Boba_Fett · 7 June 2018 at 12:57PM

Hi all, can anyone offer advice on the following, i realise i'm being negative.

My partner and i want to get married and buy a house together, she has two young children, 9 & 10, we both currently pay mortgages on our own houses.

What are my rights if we divorced, does she get to keep the house as she has young children or would it be split equally, essentially i don't want to become homeless.

thanks in advance.

DSmiffy · 7 June 2018 at 1:00PM

Boba_Fett wrote: »

Hi all, can anyone offer advice on the following, i realise i'm being negative.

My partner and i want to get married and buy a house together, she has two young children, 9 & 10, we both currently pay mortgages on our own houses.

What are my rights if we divorced, does she get to keep the house as she has young children or would it be split equally, essentially i don't want to become homeless.

thanks in advance.

Sad but necessary sometimes these days.
Have you thought about maybe moving into your partners house and paying her a rent?
You could then keep your house and rent it out.
Any problems, you just go back to your own houses.

jackieblack · 7 June 2018 at 2:08PM

Boba_Fett wrote: »

Hi all, can anyone offer advice on the following, i realise i'm being negative.

My partner and i want to get married and buy a house together, she has two young children, 9 & 10, we both currently pay mortgages on our own houses.

What are my rights if we divorced, does she get to keep the house as she has young children or would it be split equally, essentially i don't want to become homeless.

thanks in advance.

The starting point is usually 50:50 of all assets including pensions. savings, property etc, however this can vary depending on whether it is a short marriage, the length of the relationship before marriage and whether you have any children together, amongst other things.

https://www.gov.uk/money-property-when-relationship-ends

tacpot12 · 7 June 2018 at 2:48PM

Dsmiffy's advice is good upto a point, but ii you have a mortgage on your house and need the rent to keep paying the mortgage, you won't have anything you can give your wife for her to buy the new house, and the new house is likely to be larger and hence the mortgage bigger. She will need a significant contribution from you, and if you contribute, I would suggest you do so a tenant in common so that if the relationship fails, you still own half the house that you have paid for, even if you cannot occupy it.

Bear in mind that if you have children and separate, you will be liable for child maintenance.

Marriage can be very good, but as with any contract, it is useful to understand what will happen if the relationship breaks down. So you need to be both very positive and a bit negative to ensure your own interests are protected.

unholyangel · 7 June 2018 at 7:29PM

tacpot12 wrote: »

Dsmiffy's advice is good upto a point, but ii you have a mortgage on your house and need the rent to keep paying the mortgage, you won't have anything you can give your wife for her to buy the new house, and the new house is likely to be larger and hence the mortgage bigger. She will need a significant contribution from you, and if you contribute, I would suggest you do so a tenant in common so that if the relationship fails, you still own half the house that you have paid for, even if you cannot occupy it.

Bear in mind that if you have children and separate, you will be liable for child maintenance.

Marriage can be very good, but as with any contract, it is useful to understand what will happen if the relationship breaks down. So you need to be both very positive and a bit negative to ensure your own interests are protected.

I think you're getting mixed up with what happens after a death and what happens after a divorce.

While its true that tenants in common will protect OP's share if he dies (allowing him to leave it to anyone he wishes rather than it passing to his wife on his death), it won't do anything to protect him in a divorce. Even having an asset in your sole name won't mean its safe in a divorce.

OP and his partner should get professional advice imo as step-parents can potentially be liable for step-children if they were treated as a child of the family (its more complicated than that but just advising it is possible). If OP has children of his own, he'll likely want advice on how to protect their interests (if he plans on leaving them anything) too.

TBagpuss · 7 June 2018 at 7:31PM

There is no absolute rule, as it depends on all the circumstances, but presumably if your partner is currently paying her own mortgage, if the two of you were to separate, it should be possible for her to afford a mortgage on her own again?

In a divorce, a court does have to consider the needs (including housing needs) of both parties, and the needs of any children of the family.The need for a secure home for any children is important, but that doesn't necessarily mean the same house that you live in as a family.

MEM62 · 8 June 2018 at 11:02AM

I faced a similar situation when I bought a house with my girlfriend two years ago. Only my concern was what would happen if it didn't work out? And it may not have done because I was going from living on my own for 20 years to living with my OH and her two teenage kids so there was a risk. (And a culture shock. Oh the mess!!)

In our case my OH bought a slightly larger house with a different layout that would work for all four of us. I kept my property and rent it out. That way we had a 'Plan B' if everything fell apart with a minimum amount of upheaval of all involved.

As I happens things worked out great and I still have my property which is giving us a nice little addition to our income.

jackieblack · 9 June 2018 at 7:05AM

MEM62 wrote: »

I faced a similar situation when I bought a house with my girlfriend two years ago. Only my concern was what would happen if it didn't work out? And it may not have done because I was going from living on my own for 20 years to living with my OH and her two teenage kids so there was a risk. (And a culture shock. Oh the mess!!)

In our case my OH bought a slightly larger house with a different layout that would work for all four of us. I kept my property and rent it out. That way we had a 'Plan B' if everything fell apart with a minimum amount of upheaval of all involved.

As I happens things worked out great and I still have my property which is giving us a nice little addition to our income.

The financial implications after marriage / divorce are entirely different to a couple simply co-habiting.

financial/property rights after divorce

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