Husband put house entirely in his name

[blowingBubblesinABreeze]

Am I being unreasonable to be upset? He said he had a better credit rating than me, so said the mortgage, (and deed) should be entirely in his name. (I didn't appreciate the difference at the time). We bought the house 7 years ago, now worth 1 million (we live in London). He earns about 10 times what i do, so all of the mortgage contributions are from him. But I pay for food, kids things, activities, stuff like that. Having such a big income disparity complicates things. We have been married 12 years. Together for 18. We have 2 kids. We married age 30. He works long hours so i'm primarily in charge of kids.

Also, if we were to split up, would I still be entitled to half the marital home if it's entirely in my husband's name?

Yes, if you’re married, I think you would be but it is best to get some proper legal advice. Can he add you onto the deeds now?

My understanding is that yes, you would be entitled to at least half, if not more. In a long marriage where your earning is significantly impacted to enhance his, you could argue for a greater share in the event of a split. However, I'm not a solicitor, just speaking from my experience and time on the divorce boards.

I don’t think you’d be entitled to half - I could be wrong. I think you need legal advice.

You can be added to the mortgage and update the deed, it isn't difficult and I would suggest you approach this with him. You are completely reasonable to feel this way. If he isn't agreeing to this, I would ask yourself why and ensure to protect yourself financially as much as you can.

You need to get the house in both names as joint tenants - if something happens to either of you the house becomes the remaining spouses automatically (outside of their estate)

you really need to be on the legal papers imv

It is difficult. It would need a full remortgage, OP would have to earn enough money to pay the repayments...it's a complicated business and by no means automatic.

I couldn't get worked up about this now. You're married 12yrs with kids. The starting point for split of assets during a divorce is 50/50. Yes, you'd likely get 50% or more of all financial assets including pensions, house, savings, investments.

Are you planning to leave?

I'm not on the deeds or mortgage to our house as DH bought it before we met. No need to spend money adding me to deeds and mortgages all these years later. I can evidence I've paid into capital works as well, so no concerns here.

It’s a marital asset, like his pension. The usual starting point is sharing all assets then there is wiggling around looking at future earnings and children etc. your is a significantly long marriage so you would have the expected entitlement.

"A non-owning spouse can register "home rights" with HM Land Registry. This is a charge on the property that prevents your partner from selling or remortgaging it without your knowledge.
How to register: You can register your home rights by filling out form HR1 and applying to the Land Registry. There is no fee to pay. "

This is from google. You need to speak to a solicitor

I have to ask - Do you have access to view/use money he earns?

No you wouldn't have to show you can afford the repayments. If they remortgaged, you can be added as another applicant as long as the one applicant can afford the mortgage. I wasn't even in employment when we bought our house and my name went on the mortgage no issues here.

Not a Lawyer but I think it would be a marital asset so it doesn't matter whose name its in

You are married & were when you bought it, it doesn't matter if its in his name, its a marital asset.

No court would do anything less than give you a 50 50 split of it

OP i wouldn’t leave any of this to chance, get it legally drawn up - saves so much pain later - either death or divorce

From what I’ve read you would be entitled to a share if you divorced, but what happens if he dies? Has he made a will leaving your home to you?

My concern would be if he unexpectedly dies rather than what happens for divorce. The house would be part of his estate and unless he has a will leaving it to you there could be a huge tax bill

This is the major issue, if the will passes the house to a third party the OP would have to argue her rights and beneficial interest in court.
If he has no will intestacy would not leave the hose entirely to the OP only £332K worth plus half of the remainder.
At very least he needs a will that favours OP, ideally they would both be on the title.
In a divorce though 50% would be the start point irrespective of title.

Really? We bought this house when dh wasn’t working. The mortgage was entirely in my name. The house is in both names. I had to show wage slips and they never asked dh to prove income or savings.

I’d ask to be put on the mortgage and deeds, as others have queried, what’s the deal in terms of wills?

It doesn't really matter anymore anyway, with a long marriage and children, you'll get at least half of the house. And likely be able to stay there until all children are adults if need be.

Yes divorce is a 50/50 starting point. But I would be worried as he could 1) sell it without your agreement 2) gift it to someone else 3) die and leave it to someone else and 4) remortgage it.

I deliberately stayed off our mortgage and deeds as due to my job I can get good deals mortgages etc and my daughter wants to buy a house post uni and I can get the deposit back potentially so we kept me off. Our mortgage is tiny but he could only own the house in his name (mortgage rules) so then did a declaration of trust that in the event of a divorce or death the house is mine. So it covered me.

You can’t normally do this. If the mortgage is joint you can own it together if the mortgage is just in one person’s name then you generally can’t buy it as joint.

You wouldn’t automatically be entitled to half whether you’re on the deed ms or not. You’re entitled to a fair share which might be more or less than that irrespective of whose name the deeds are in as you’re married

I think you are protected in law because of marriage. The house is marital property, and you are entitled to half (same with pensions, savings etc). Spouses are exempt from inheritance tax.

But! It is easier if your name is on the deed. If for example he chose to leave the house to someone else you would still be entitled to your half as you shouldn't be worse off on his death than you would be upon divorce, but you might have a lengthy legal battle with his named beneficiaries first.

This is all moot if you are happily married and he isn't planning to screw you over.

Without a will leaving the house to the OP, the intestacy laws mean that the OP wouldn't inherit it completely - a share (50% of anything over £325k, I think) would go to the children.

The issue is that he could sell the house without you realising.

Or borrow against it.

Or you use tghe hous has collateral for a loan elsewhere.