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?

Get legal advice.

You need to check that he hasn’t put the property into a trust or put a family member on the deed.

Are you thinking of leaving him?

Lots of people are saying get added to the deeds. We did this with a property my husband bought before we met. I wasn’t fussed about being on the deeds but it was the only way he could remortgage (previous mortgage firm withdrew mortgage).

it was pretty straight forward but be aware that you will be liable for stamp duty on your share if you do that which could be a lot as your house is worth a lot on top of the costs of transfer of ownership Luckily mine fell below the threshold at the time.

Sorry you’re right. It was twenty plus years ago. Dh’s name was on the mortgage but he had no income, so they weren’t interested in him proving income or being able to afford the repayments. So yes, he was on the mortgage and deeds, but they were happy I had the income on my own .

For all those saying op is automatically entitled to half on divorce are simply wrong. Each party’s entitled to a fair share - but that could be less than half. Yes it’s possibly not likely but would totally depend on ops circumstances which we don’t know and women can and do exit marriages with less than half.

however whether op is on deeds or not does not impact that from a divorce perspective

Yes I agree - who wants to have all the arguments Bargy and uncertainy

do it now - esp if your husband hasn’t got a will - you’d have to move out as you only get first £200k and then half of rest

No, she'd probably be entitled to more than half. Assuming that's what you meant?!

You should also think about your pension. Is he paying into one for you while you are earning less and looking after the kids?

Which country do you live in?

Has he made a will? If so what does it say.

Have you life insurance? Have you mentioned the deeds to him before? We bought our house when I wasn't working but I'm still on the mortgage and the deeds. I'd do a bit of financial research if I were you, have you got your wills? And have you got life insurance/assurance. Check what the financial implications of either of you dying and then get advice on how to proceed.

As their married yes the op is entitled to atleast 50% of all assets including the house regardless of who's name is on the deeds or mortgage, and his pension and any savings, shares etc. With children and the discrepancy in their pay shed probably get more than 50% as thats the starting point before future earning and child rearing are taken into account

He should put you on the deeds, it makes life a lot simpler. When DH and I got married I sold my house and paid off his mortgage, and he put my name on.

Tell him it’s time to put it in your name too. Simple.

I did it with my partner last year. Couldn’t have been easier, there’s no excuse for him not to.

None of this is correct!

Legally it makes little difference as you bought it together and it is a joint marital asset regardless of whose name it's in.

What makes a MASSIVE difference is his reaction when you say that you want your name on the deeds. That you have done your research and that it makes no difference to the mortgage, so you want your name on the deeds.

Anger, stonewalling, delaying, accusations, basically anything other that "Yes, lets get that sorted" .....keep an eye on things. He is shoring up what he thinks is his asset against the day when you may divorce. Not a good sign. Thats not to say that he is up to anything, but that he always has a thought that the day may come and will cheerfully leave you and the kids with fuck all. Big shock for him if that day did come but thats by the by.

Do you have all the financial information of your household? Income (his and yours), pensions (his and yours), savings (shared and seperate) investments etc. He sounds like a wily one, so you need to be as savvy as he is being just in case. You need to be sure that there are no secret investments for example.

I am not saying that you will ever need this information but a wise person who is on the back foot financially will always have this info to hand just in case. There was a thread very recently where a wife was blindsided when her husband left and it turned out he had been having a long term affair. A lot of that time was used by him to make sure she got almost nothing in a divorce, she is playing catch up as he had always handled the finances.

We should always hope for the best but plan for the worst. I am very very cynical.....ask me why.....

I'd get legal advice fairly soon. He's trying to outmaneuover you...what a bastard.

On the contrary if he dies without a will it will be a huge upset - OP would have to move

it’s easy to make it legal, why wouldn’t you avoid the agro!

That is patently untrue!

If he left the house to someone else in his will, you wouldn’t be entitled to anything, it’s just happened to an aunt, you should look into it

I would be more worried about what would happen in the event of death. What cover is in place for you. While the bank cannot take the mortgaged property back in the first instance… if the payments stop then they will do. Have you financial security in the event of his death to continue making payments? If the answer is no then I would be seeing a financial advisor asap. Usually mortgage companies expect cover in place but it depends on your lender ?

No there is no IHT between spouses and she would automatically inherit.

I’m not on the mortgage it deeds. I don’t work. When we finally managed to buy a house 5 years ago after almost two decades of renting, putting me on the mortgage would have meant we couldn’t borrow enough to buy anything. We tried doing it in joint names and it brought down the borrowing potential.

That can be the case but your aunt can apply to probate for reasonable provision for herself given that this is her home. She needs legal advice.

There would have to be a very good reason, or you could contest the will. Were the couple married, separated or divorced and did someone else have an interest in the property?

It is true! She would need to move because she would only get the first 200k of the estate and then 50% of the remainder

someone independent would need to act for her children’s interests

very complicated

I’ve just been through similar situation to this so I do know!

It’s a marital asset. And you’ve a long marriage already (over 5 y).
But you can register your interest with land registry as a spouse. Warning: it will notify your husband