Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

House signed to me in court

108 replies

Cos12345 · 12/11/2021 20:13

So long story ex husband and I divorced over seven years ago, house is still in joint names as mortgage company won't take him off. Although I pay all the mortgage and have done for last ten years when we split. In court I was awarded house due to his lying and cheating , he has just told me dd that when I come to sell the house current mortgage will end in five years he is going to make it hell for me.
I have remarried and we intend to stay in house. I'm so worried now anyone experienced this ?

OP posts:
Original poster
Cos12345 · 12/11/2021 20:35

I certainly will be happy when he is off!

OP posts:
Gingernaut · 12/11/2021 20:36

Is his name off the title deeds?

DreamingofItaly · 12/11/2021 20:43

My sister divorced and due to earnings her exH had to remain on the mortgage for several years despite the fact she's paying it on her own, but "on paper" she couldn't afford it. All legally agreed as part of divorce settlement, she paid him off, the house is hers, he has no legal claim over it, just a name on mortgage.

Last year she finally got him off the mortgage...he didn't have a leg to stand on to try and get anything so he didn't.

Get your divorce paperwork checked properly and chat to your solicitor to be sure. It's possible your ex is just being a d*ck and trying to get a reaction...

Good luck!

beigebrownblue · 12/11/2021 20:44

@Biscuitandacuppa

When your current mortgage deal ends you won’t need to remortgage or sell, your mortgage will simply become a tracker mortgage that isn’t on a fixed deal. At some point you will need to get him removed from the deeds but that will need to be when you are either financially able to get a provider to remortgage to you alone or the mortgage is paid off and he signs any interest in the property away.
Yes, I kind of have, as ex bought me out.

It is quite a compicated procedure.

But I've done it. And I represented myself in court as didn't want to pay solicitor three hunded quid an hour for the priviledge.

It can be done.

Babyroobs · 12/11/2021 20:53

Often what happens is that you are allowed to stay in the house with the children until they leave education then the house is sold and assets divided.

HireStarter · 12/11/2021 20:57

Who gets the equity from the past 5 years? You've been paying in, but I assume he's entitled to half of the CURRENT value?

magicstars · 12/11/2021 20:59

Can you take your ex or the mortgage & get your new dh on it instead?
A consent order will be needed & a new mortgage agreement with the bank.
If there is capitol in the house this will be covered in the consent order (if your ex agrees it).
I was told by a divorce solicitor that in some cases courts can order the bank to remove one party from the mortgage.

category12 · 12/11/2021 21:02

Sounds like he's spouting bollocks just like he always does, if you had it all agreed in court years ago.

DameCelia · 12/11/2021 21:03

@Babyroobs
That's a specific thing called a Mesher Order. I don't think that's what the OP has.

Teeturtle · 12/11/2021 21:04

@Cos12345

I certainly will be happy when he is off!
You know that a mortgage and house deeds are two separate things don’t you? Sorry I have to ask as the two seem to be spoken of like they are the same thing quite a lot on mumsnet. If I were you I would be far more preoccupied about him being on the house deeds than the mortgage, technically him being in the mortgage has no impact on you. If I were him, I would want to get off the mortgage ASAP.

On the matter of the mortgage, no of course the mortgage company are not going to just taken him off because you ask! They have lent a lot of money to this person (with yourself) they are not just going to absolve somebody of responsibility because they ask. If you want him off the mortgage, you need to organise a new mortgage with just yourself on it and pay off the old joint mortgage.

thenewduchessofhastings · 12/11/2021 21:10

So basically your ex is an immature petty twat who see it as you "won" in court and won't move on with his life and is still bitter?

I'm going to take it the court awarded you the right to remain in the marital home with him getting a portion of the equity of the total value when the mortgage ends and you were awarded a higher percentage of the equity than he was?

You've mentioned remortgaging when the mortgage ends so you've got to essentially buy the ex out of the house completely and he intends to make it difficult for you even though he probably really wants the money.

LawnFever · 12/11/2021 21:14

@Cos12345

In five years the current mortgage term ends, so I will have to remortgage or sell
That’s not what happens when a mortgage term ends.

If you don’t remortgage it’ll go automatically to your mortgage companies base rate, there’s no obligation to sell at all.

OP I think you would benefit from some financial advice about how mortgages work as well as legal advice, because your ex is spinning you all sorts of nonsense and you need to understand how these things work so he can’t get you flustered in this situation.

BobLemon · 12/11/2021 21:20

My OH is divorced. His ExW was awarded the house (so he was removed from the Title, he has no rights to any of the equity) and she was obliged to use “best endeavours” to have him removed from the mortgage as soon as possible.

In reality what happened was when the mortgage deal ended she was able to get a new deal on her own.

What would have happened if she hadn’t been able to, I don’t know. Even though it wasn’t particularly acrimonious, I think if she’d expected OH to continue to having this debt against his name, things would indeed have got pretty unpleasant.

Dixiechickonhols · 12/11/2021 21:24

You need professional legal advice. It should have been dealt with following divorce.

Theremustbemoretome · 12/11/2021 21:26

DH’s friend recently still had his ex-wife on the mortgage about 15 years after they divorced. The mortgage term was coming to an end and after much to-ing and fro-ing with the bank paperwork was sent to the ex-wife for her to sign to get her off the mortgage. He was also initially told it couldn’t be done but he got senior bank manager involved and discovered it can be done.

Go back to your mortgage provider and contact a solicitor. You also don’t need to sell the house when your current term ends either.

Catforaheadrest · 12/11/2021 21:29

No doubt the OH’s ExH is an unpleasant character, but I think this would irk the most reasonable person, no?

Your former spouse kept the marital home
Your former spouse still lives there
Your former spouse has remarried and their new DH resides in that house
And you are still on the mortgage.
When the current mortgage products ends, they will have had more than a decade since the divorce to get to a position where you can be removed from the mortgage.
You’d expect them to achieve removing you from the mortgage. Is that what this argument has been about? An expectation that the OP will be unable to get a new mortgage without ExH on it still?

Cocomarine · 12/11/2021 21:31

@Theremustbemoretome

DH’s friend recently still had his ex-wife on the mortgage about 15 years after they divorced. The mortgage term was coming to an end and after much to-ing and fro-ing with the bank paperwork was sent to the ex-wife for her to sign to get her off the mortgage. He was also initially told it couldn’t be done but he got senior bank manager involved and discovered it can be done.

Go back to your mortgage provider and contact a solicitor. You also don’t need to sell the house when your current term ends either.

That didn’t need a senior bank manager, and if it did, I wouldn’t stay with that bank!

It’s a very standard business. It’s a very simple process. The complication is if the party coming off the mortgage refuses to co-operate - and then it’s court you need, not a more senior bank employee!

All you need is:

  • a solicitor
  • a form TR1
  • the party staying on the mortgage to pass affordability checks

This happens all the time!

Cocomarine · 12/11/2021 21:39

You’re lucky it wasn’t in your Consent Order that you had to take over the mortgage once you had a cohabited - let alone got married! That’s a really common trigger.

Unless it’s an interest only mortgage, as others have said - you just remain on your lender’s standard variable rate.

I suppose the trouble your ex thinks he can cause is if you want a new deal on a continued joint mortgage, he won’t co-operate.

So - remortgage in your own name. Presumably if you’ve paid it alone for 10 years, and the equity has increased, and you’ve reduced the borrowing - you’ll pass affordability?

Did your XH complete the TR1 transfer of title solely to you as part of the divorce? Even if he didn’t, and needs to do it when you remortgage, that’ll be specified in your Consent Order. So he can’t refuse forever, and in the meantime you just keep going on the standard variable rate.

Talk to your solicitor - you don’t seem to have a clear handle on what your agreement is. Once you are clear, talk to a mortgage broker. Just get him off now 🤷🏻‍♀️

WickedWitchOfTheTrent · 12/11/2021 21:40

You don't have to remortgage when the fixed rate ends, you just end up paying the base interest rate, usually a higher % than a fixed rate. So no need to sell unless you can't afford the repayments

Essexmum321 · 12/11/2021 21:49

My friend had this and it was horribly complicated, even though court ordered he wouldn't sign it over meaning she had to go back to court a couple of times incurring costs of thousands of pounds, and the stress cost her health problems and her job, so she couldn't pay the mortgage anyway for over a year and the bank was about to foreclose.

Cocomarine · 12/11/2021 21:53

@Essexmum321

My friend had this and it was horribly complicated, even though court ordered he wouldn't sign it over meaning she had to go back to court a couple of times incurring costs of thousands of pounds, and the stress cost her health problems and her job, so she couldn't pay the mortgage anyway for over a year and the bank was about to foreclose.
What happened when the bank took possession, @Essexmum321
Cocomarine · 12/11/2021 21:54

Oh you said “about” - I read that as “able”. So they didn’t repossess? How was it sorted in the end @Essexmum321 ?

AlbertBridge · 12/11/2021 22:00

Why don't you and your new DH just remortgage your get rid of your ex?

Do you mean your current interest-only mortgage finishes in 5 years?

ForensicAccountant · 12/11/2021 22:12

Not sure if you mean the current mortgage deal ending. When your mortgage term ends that is when you should have either paid it off or will need to repay the loan that is still outstanding to the bank. There is certainly no requirement on the bank to extend the term or give you a new loan.

Cocomarine · 12/11/2021 22:13

@AlbertBridge

Why don't you and your new DH just remortgage your get rid of your ex?

Do you mean your current interest-only mortgage finishes in 5 years?

Oh please god don’t advise her to get a joint mortgage with the second husband! No no no. Even if he’s a good husband, it’s better to keep the mortgage on your house all to yourself. Why risk the same situation again?! But OP’s other posts suggests it’s even more not a good suggestion. I’d never recommend anyone to remortgage their house jointly - not as a first resort. And yes, I know they’re married so it’s a marital asset. Still makes life more complicated if you split, and reduces the chance that you can argue for a higher share of it.