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?

Household bills are significantly less than childcare for multiple children

Disagree if the house is jointly owned the house is jointly owned

that said how much equity is there because that is what you should get 50/50 off

That is completely irrelevant because they are not married. All OP is entitled to is her 50% of the equity- no court cares whether she has done childcare.

There's a difference between what's right and what's legal.

Lawyer up my friend!

Are you tenants in common- it will specify the percentage split
Or joint tennants- then it doesn't matter what deposit he put down, the equity is split 50/50

I say this knowing I was the one who put the deposit down and now my ex will walk away with 50% of it. Solicitor has told me you can't fight it.

Your name is on the mortgage then they don't care who paid what, as long as it is paid. Again, my ex has been paying the mortgage for the last year as he refuses to leave, but it doesn't seem to matter according to two solicitors I have spoken to.

This is what I have been told. I could be getting bad advice from two different solicitors.

You need to know what mortgage is left. If there is a £400,000 mortgage with £100,000 equity then £50,000 is fairly.

But i would seek legal advice. It is very complicated.

As joint tenants (assuming you are actually joint tenants and this is a legal term so you need to be confident this is right) and without any ringfencing of the deposit in a proper legal agreement then you both own the house 100% regardless of who paid the mortgage. If you sell you can agree a split of the profits but the most sensible split would be 50% of the profit after the mortgage is repaid. You might together agree a different split e.g. if he wants to take on the mortgage and you want to leave you may agree to take £50k as you decide together that that is "fair".

If the mortgage is in both names (as it is for joint tenants) you can ring and get details and no they wouldn't tell him you called. You would also do well to get legal advice. You'd need a copy of any contracts, the mortgage agreement and the details of what remaining balance there is on the mortgage to have a sensible discussion with a lawyer.

NEVER trust your ex partner to give you legal advice, at best they are biased and at worst they are actively trying to sabotage you!

Joint property ownership: Overview - GOV.UK

they take into account the future value of the house.

How can they possibly do that? Crystal balls are notoriously unreliable.

I was responding to someone else's comment

You need to familiarize yourself with all the details regarding the ownership, the mortgage, and whether or not he protected his deposit. Then you need to speak to a solicitor.

£50k may or may not be fair, but no one on here is going to be able to give you a definitive answer.

I wouldn’t be agreeing to anything with this guy he is clearly out to screw you over. Personally I would insist the house is sold and the equity is split 50/50. Makes it very simple no arguments over how much it’s worth. Anything else will be protracted, painful and difficult to manage fairly.

Plus I’d prefer if my kids didn’t think I’d left the family home, better you both find somewhere new. Might not be what he wants, but hey that’s the great thing about splitting up you don’t have to do what he wants anymore.

It will be 50/50 on the equity too. No way he’ll get away with arguing in court he gets more when you sacrificed career and income to do his share of childcare. You made the decision to support him knowing you owned half the house. Would be mad to make a financial decision like part time working with no financial backup in place for yourself.

Are you actually on the mortgage documents? If you are it’s an easy call to the bank to find out how much is still owed. But you won’t know the true equity unless the house is sold.

I would insist the house is sold and the equity is split 50/50.

How would you do that? You might want to but you can’t. Your approach sounds very spiteful. Houses rarely sell for their valuation so she could be cutting her nose off to spite her face.

You can force a sale if the other party wont agree to it, but hopefully he wont be silly enough to take that to court. The only reason a court would prevent it is for the children, however she is the primary carer so he cant claim that one. In fact, that could go quite badly for him, the court could say the house only get sold once the children finish school, and the primary carer stays in it until then.

Then it’s very clear, you own half the house and are entitled to half the equity after any mortgage. He can prove you haven’t contributed all he likes, it won’t change a damn thing especially as you have children and presumably earned less because you were looking after them. Get your own legal advice ASAP

Presumably you are named on the mortgage if you are joint tenants, the mortgage company would normally insist on it. In which case you should have your own access and information, and no they would have no reason to tell your partner,

House is 500k
How much is left on the mortgage?
How much deposit did he put in?

I would deduct his deposit, dedect what is left on mortgage and split the amount thats left