What are my rights after separation

[FirstTimeMama21]

My partner and I are separating. We are not married but we have two children together. We both own the house, although I did not contribute to the deposit. I work part time in order to support our children and so I have paid a fairly low amount of money, monthly, to my partner as a contribution to the outgoings.

He has said that he has sought legal advice and that the easiest thing for him to do is to buy me out of the house. The house is worth £500k and he has offered me £50k. He said that if I don't accept, we will have to go to court but I will get less than £50k because he can prove that I haven't contributed towards the mortgage.

Is this true? Has anyone had a similar experience?

I don't know whether he's correct. But I would not agree to anything without consulting an attorney of my own first.

How is the ownership of the house legally defined? What’s the split? Or is it just joint?

If you aren’t married you’re screwed.

I would tend to agree with this in most cases. But you really need to contact your own attorney.

How do you own the house?

joint tenants?

tenants in common with specified shares?

Joint tenants

Joint tenants, 50/50

How much is the mortgage on the house?

I'm not sure. I think he paid quite a large deposit as he had lots of equity in his previous property. I will try to find out.

How does that affect things?

If you own the house as joint tenants, isn't there a legal assumption that you have equal shares? Definitely consult a solicitor for advice of your own.

The mortgage affects things because if there is a mortgage of £400k then £50k would be your share. You need these figures to get legal advice.

I thought so too. I've been trying to search online- from what I've read he may be entitled to a larger share. I actually agree that a 50/50 split probably is unfair but a friend has said she thinks even if this is the case, I would be entitled to more than the 50k offered.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/joint-tenants-tenants-in-common/

this and other websites seem to say that if you are joint tenants, you have a right to 50% of the value regardless of who put what deposit in.
Can’t offer legal advice and don’t have personal experience but the rules seem pretty clear here?

The amount you would get if the house was sold depends on how much equity there is in the house - how much of the mortgage is paid off already. If there’s still 400k mortgage to pay off on a 500k house, there would only be a value of 100k total if it was sold, and you’d get your 50% proportion. How much of the equity in the house is the 50k he’s suggesting?

Did he 'ring fence' or otherwise legally protect the amount of his deposit? If so, any amount you are entitled to would be reduced by that amount.

You really need to consult with a solicitor. The 'usual protections' of a marriage will not apply to you. In your situation it's more like business partners dissolving a partnership.

he can prove that I haven't contributed towards the mortgage

I don't think that matters if you're joint owners. It's not like you were living in a house solely owned by him and didn't contribute.

But see, this is where it gets sticky and you need to speak to a solicitor. In a marriage it wouldn't matter, which is why married SAHPs are entitled to their fair share of the house. In a jointly owned home with unmarried partners it shouldn't matter either. The joint ownership itself constitutes a legal agreement. But it could be that he could try to 'claim back' any expenses he's paid for on the house such as improvements or whatnot. I don't know if the mortgage is a 'whatnot'.

Bottom line, do NOT take his word, or his solicitor's word, for anything. Seek your own legal advice. Especially because he's offering a 'buy out'. In that situation it's not usually half the equity (amount after a sale less outstanding mortgage), they take into account the future value of the house. He's asking to 'buy you out' of a valuable asset and you should be recompensed for 1/2 of the loss of the total value of that asset.

Were you contributing equally to the bills etc before kids? Or was he always paying for the lions share of everything?

Before you do anything else find out how big the outstanding mortgage is so you can work out the equity- the money from the house that is to be shared between you.

I don't know how much is left to pay on the mortgage. If I call the mortgage company to enquire, will my partner be informed? Or if he suspects and asks, will they confirm that I've been in touch?

Before the children, I contributed more as I was working full time. But he still paid more. The property we loved in then was only owned by him.

No they wont call him but they will only give you any info if you're named on the mortgage.

If you've paid in less than £50k when he's probably offering you a pretty good deal.

You are entitled to half but you need to find out what the equity is.
Value of house - mortgage amount left to pay = equity.

It doesn't matter if house is worth 500k or 20k, it's the equity you need to be finding out. If he is offering you 50k then the equity should be 100k. Does that seem right?

You need proper legal advice as there's a lot of variables. Sadly your lack of marriage does effect this. Has he ring fenced the deposit. Please seek legal advice x

The fact that he’s expecting you to make decisions without information is a massive red flag. Why do you not have any knowledge of your finances? Did he actively hide details or were you just not interested?
You need to ask what the outstanding mortgage is.
You need to remind him that you have contributed. You can work out the cost of a nursery for all the time you have covered childcare and cite that.
Most importantly. Ask what his plans are for housing the children? He can’t just ignore their needs. If he goes the default route of assuming they’re your problem and responsibility then you need to take a realistic look at your options if you were to try and manage on £50k and your PT salary.
What has he said about how he expects ‘custody’ to be?

Utter rubbish! It really is half the equity.

If the house is worth 500k, he put a deposit down of 100k, there is a mortgage of 200k, means there is equity of 200k. So that's 100k each. If the mortgage us 300k, then possibly only 100k equity so 50k each.
You need to know amount left on mortgage to define what money is available to split.