Civil partnership split, she lives in the house with the kids

[Trike76]

Hi,

Advice needed as seen a lot of conflicting threads on here. My partner and I split after 21 years and have three children together - 16,12 and 11. The house is in my name only although bought with funds from a jointly owned house. I know she has beneficial rights to half the house , even tried to put her name on the mortgage when it was renewed, but she has a poor credit rating and couldn’t at the time. I moved out and pay both half the mortgage and child maintenance. She has left me with considerable debt through consolidating finance from our previous home on a loan in my name, which I know I’m responsible for. I’ve moved out and left her with everything. Can I stop paying half the mortgage? Any advice greatly appreciated.

You should see a solicitor because the beneficial interest may not be 50/50, depending on how the original house contributions stacked up.

If you’re the only one listed on the mortgage, you’ll be held liable if your exP decides not to pay. Can you be sure she will keep paying it?

Has she effectively kicked you out / made you leave and now intends to continue to live there? She really needs to buy you out, if so, but of course probably can’t if she isn’t a good credit risk.

You’ll have to house yourself somehow, so there’s a good chance you’ll need to sell the house and release the equity from it. Any debts she ran up will need to come out of the combined pot, before you divvy up what’s left.

IANAL though, so find a good one and get their advice.

She won’t be able to buy me out and yes, she asked me to leave. I’ve since found a job running hotels which includes rented staff accommodation. The house was bought with the deposit on a jointly owned home. She has also enrolled in an open university course. As well as full time work. Does this change things?

I believe the only option is to wait until the kids are out of education or move back in and ask her to leave.

As harsh as this sounds you may need to force her hand and sell it, if you have the stomach to potentially make your dc homeless.
My dsis has just gone through similar, she wanted a mesher order so she could continue living there until the dc were of a certain age.
The courts don't look favourably on mesher orders apparently, they like a fair clean break, much to dsis surprise.
Dsis can't afford to buy with her half but no-one was interested or cared that they were losing their home or where they are supposed to live.
Dsis exh hasn't paid the mortgage for 6 year, not even half, but that didn't give dsis a bigger slice of the pie, it was ordered 50/50 split.
Otoh my other dsis moved out of her family home and her exh lived there and stopped paying the mortgage which resulted in the house being repossessed.
Im not being very helpful 😕

Why did you agree to move out when your name is on the mortgage etc?

Get a decent solicitor and figure out your next steps.

You need to sit down with a solicitor and find out your legal standing. When do you get to spend time with your kids?

I moved out as it was the right thing to do at the time. Solicitor is the best option here. FYI @DonewhatIcando, I would take the kids on 100%. They will always be my priority.

Solicitor
You will need to force house sale and you MAY be able to get extra from the sale IF you can prove you consolidated joint debts/partners debts

@Slabberon currently see my kids for about two days each month. Due to the location of our new home on a distant island, I had to move to another island to get a job that would be sustainable for me. If a job was available with a similar wage, I would move back in a shot!

@Hankunamatata I can prove all consolidated debt and the full payment of a car in her name on HP from the funds raised on our previous sale.

I would get legal advice NOW. If you wait then your absence and lack of contact can be used against you.