Equity in house during a devorce

[Knockerefc]

Will someone please please simplify it for me. I am really struggling to get my head round this.
It's a 50/50 split. she is keeping the house. I paid the deposit 13 years a go of £11000 on a mortgage of 120000. She says after fees I get about £20000.
The house is now worth £160000. We have 17 years and £106000 left to pay.
Help anyone.

[NorthernSpirit]

Doesn’t matter who put what deposit in or who paid the mortgage, the house is a joint marital asset.

If you are splitting it 50:50:

Value of the house / sale price minus the amount remaining on the mortgage = the equity (which which be split 50:50).

So if the house is worth £160k minus the £106k left on the mortgage - there is £54 equity. You’ll get 50% of that which is £27k. If she’s keeping the house there will be no sellers fees, just solicitors fees to legalise the division (which would be less than £1k).

[Knockerefc]

Ok thankyou. People are telling me different things about the deposit.
But I think your correct

[NorthernSpirit]

My now OH’s finances went to court with his EW.

My OH had put £100k deposit into the former marital home and paid the mortgage in full for 11 years (EW didn’t work).

The judge awarded a 62:38% split (he got the lower split).

[Knockerefc]

Don't go to court then. I'm absolutely shocked by that. It's scared me.

[wobytide]

Ignore any stories, everything is based on the actual situation. It's fairly obvious to understand why that story ended up with a split like that if only one of the people was working .

Drip feeding information will give you an array of answers, most of which won't be accurate for your situation

[Notbeingrobbed]

So the more you put in the less you get out. British justice.

[NorthernSpirit]

Do you have kids OP? If so, it’s the norm that the RP gets a bigger share of the house.

If you put £11k in. Paid half of the mortgage (worth £7k to you). And got 50% of the equity (with 12.5k to you). In theory your ‘share’ would be £30.5k.

No one really ‘wins’ in divorce.

[Yellowhorse]

Won’t help you, OP, but for anyone else, or for you in them future, you can draw up a deed- with a solicitor- when one of you puts more into a property money wise, at the point of purchase.
You can also add in how the money and property would be divivided if you seperate. Has stood up legally with the people I know have done this and then split up subsequently,

[KickAssAngel]

50/50 is the starting point for discussions, but can change a lot.

The MOST important part of the settlement is to provide stability for any children (you don't say if you have any) and that will be affected by a huge range of factors. If there's a SAHP with no earning potential & dependent children, then that's one of the most significant factors. Other factors include things like how much money there is, who is the main carer, how much time children spend with parents, the working hours/childcare available for working parents etc.

If there are no children then a 50/50 split seems quite likely (but not definite).

Honestly - 11,000 over 13 years ago isn't THAT big a deal. It was less than 10% of the value of the house then. You've had 13 years of (theoretical) love & happiness in the house together. Less than 1,000 a year of evenings & holidays etc is pretty cheap compared to being a bachelor and going out for companionship and entertainment.

[Ss770640]

@NorthernSpirit is wrong.

If you brought money to the table before marriage and you can prove it, then you can apply for an unequal share.

This is especially true is marriage is less than 5 years as it is "short".

The only exemption to this if you can prove it was bought with intent to be a family home. Ie bought normally after marriage.

If the property was simply bought as a couple long before marriage and kids, then there is justification for a non equal share.

Note I'm not a lawyer and only research Scots law.

[Chewbecca]

If you are going 50/50, you have £54k equity in the house, being £160k (value) less £106k (what you owe). So that's £27k each, less any costs.

If you want to take the £11k into account, you could say you get the first £11k of the equity, so there would be £43k to share 50/50 and your OH would have £21.5k and you would have £32.5k.

[Knockerefc]

But my wife is refusing to negotiate. She is also dismissing her teachers pension but she may have a point as she has only been teaching 14 years and we are both only 37 so it's probably worth nothing.

[NoSquirrels]

Do you have children, OP?

[eggncress]

Not an expert but her pension will mature so you shouldn’t ignore it.
She’s dismissing it to discourage you from claiming on it. You should claim as a matter of principle. The £11 k deposit you paid isn’t a huge amount either but sounds like she’s getting her share of that. Do you have a pension she can claim a share of?

[Japanesejazz]

I think you will find that her pension will be worth a lot more than the house

[SD1978]

Talk to a lawyer. She doesn't get to decide what assists are included and what aren't.

[Knockerefc]

I'm a truck driver and have the new government pension. Were both 37

[xzcvbnm]

If she is refusing to negotiate you have no choice but to go to court. Her pension must be included from your perspective.

[Over50andfab]

Scots law is different to English law as to what can be included/excluded in finance disputes. My ex didn’t want to include any pension from pre marriage but was happy to include any investments that I had at time of marriage and continued to hold throughout.

Perhaps suggest mediation to her OP?

[eggncress]

Sounds like she’s getting to keep all her pension and the house and you come away with a measly £20k?

Get your own lawyer and claim your half of everything.

[Ss770640]

List all assets and contributions before and after marriage. Including current value of home, pensions and savings.

Anything before marriage. You both keep or claim back. In your case I'd expect my £11k deposit to have increased in value if your property increased in value. Likewise if your property has devalued, your £11k share is worth less.

Deduct marital debts from the total marital pot.

Split what's left of the marital pot into 2.

[Ss770640]

160k value less mortage of 107k = £53k.

£53k divided by two = £26k each.

Fees will be a couple grand so you'd be looking at around £23k each. Her calculation is correct.

But you paid £11k deposit. So I'd expect to have £23k + £11k = £34k returned to you.

Above assumes zero marital debt.

Also, certainly in Scots law. You also split the pension contributions during marriage.

Pensions are tricky to divide because they accrue over time (earning interest).

I would look at present value of pension and subtract pension value at time of marriage, to start with. Divide that sum by 2. Also including your own pension value too.

14 years is a long time and personally I'm against including pensions in marital division simply because they won't be claimed until 40 years after divorce.

However the law says they are to be included, what's earned during marriage at least.

Naturally she will avoid splitting a teachers pension. They are very generous in the public sector. However you are entitled to include it.

Also consider as assets the cars, savings and marital debts such as cost of valuations, transfers, pension extraction etc. Which should all be split.


Why are you divorcing?

[Ss770640]

"teaching 14 years and we are both only 37 so it's probably worth nothing."

If her salary is £25k, with pension of 10% common in the public sector. That's a £38k pot.

[Knockerefc]

We are divorcing due to her on off 4 year affair with a work colleague. Also constantly being in debt of up to £20000 for 10 years. That is now down to £10000 but the majority of it she put in my name by fraud and she has earned me a ccj within the last 12 months. We are paying half each towards that at the moment.
I've suffered domestic abuse including a black eye but although I have the photograph evidence from three years ago I stupidly didn't report it because I wanted to protect her job.
I'm not saying I've been perfect though. Im trying to own up to my own mistakes in our marriage and change for the better and move forward so I've spoken to the NHS and I'm starting an anger management course and being treated for depression hopefully. I'm basically on a waiting list to start a CBT course.

[seventhgonickname]

When you get to the financial settle ment bit you both have to declare all assets and debts.She wil need to provide a cash equivalent quote which will show you exactly what the pension is worth.If it is not Hugh then it could be ofset against the equity in the house.
Also uf there are joint debts see 8f your solicitor can put in that these debts are paid off with the property equity before the residual divided.Best that you both start with a clean slate.