I want half in the divorce. Am I likely to get it.

[Divorcein40swoman]

Posted here for traffic ..

Just looking for some legal advice.
Married 6 years . Together 15
I left him... moved out the house when he was away .. tod him afterwards
No children
He put down £200k for the house which came from the sale of a flat he owned I his name before we married.
Joint mortgage each paying half.
I continued to pay after I left which was last year
I want the divorce
I have no savings ... he has savings in an account in his name around 30k
He has an isa opened in his name after we married
We each have a pension. He can take his pension 10 years earlier than me as he's older
I earn slightly more than him and will be at work longer than him due to our ages

I want 50/50 of everything. The savings. The ISA and especially the house.
He's upset as he's not going to get a decent mortgage at his age . He also wants the £200k he put it to be given back. Us clear the mortgage and come away with about 50k each. I want half !!
What's likely to happen

Well this really.

If you were paying towards the mortgage of the property that was used as a deposit, and you were paying towards it for a substantial amount of time, then yes, you should be entitled to a portion of that back.

You shouldn’t be entitled to his pension or his savings though.

I don't know what the legal position would be. But morally if this is a person you loved how can you leave him in a position where he won't be able to get a proper home because his age means he won't be able to get much of a mortgage? If you take half of everything - which you didn't earn - he will be in a much poorer position than you. You have many years left to earn yourself a bigger place again, he doesn't. If it were me, especially given the circumstances are that you are leaving him, I would absolutely not be going for half. You made this decision, not him, along with the decision to never save. It isn't his fault you didn't plan for the future properly.

I was married for about the same time as OP. I put the house deposit down and as my solicitor and my exH's solicitor advised house deposits are normally returned to the person who put it in. My ex was advised he could take me to court but the outcome would likely be that my deposit was returned to me. I believe even loaned money from parents is now taken in to account.

Lots of women on MN have no idea how little protection you get in a marriage under 10yrs.

This is nonsense. There is no “10 year rule” in law. Every case is fact-specific.

I'm in a similar postion (although not married or spiltting up). I am the higher earner but Mr Monkey put down a £200k deposit for our flat and is 9 years older. We too have no children. We pay bills proportionate to our incomes nd have our own savings and pensions. I think you are being a massive dickhead.

When I got divorced 5 years ago, it didn’t occur to me to include anything from prior to our living together.
neither did the mediator, or either of our solicitors, none of whom raised it.

It’s a bit like the common law marriage myth

You have been with your husband for 15 years but married for 6 years and have no children together. How long had your husband owned the flat before you moved in? How long were you living in the flat before you married? How long were you living in the flat after you married?

Did you contribute towards the mortgage or pay your husband rent, whilst living in the flat? Did you contribute towards bills whilst living there? If so, can you prove it? Eg. Bank statements. If you financially contributed whilst living in the flat, it's possible you may be awarded some of the £200K but certainly not half and being awarded anything at all isn't guaranteed.

The savings your husband has is a martial asset, and in theory you might be awarded half. The fact you don't have savings isn't your husband's fault. By admission you admit you earn a decent salary and have chosen to spend rather than save.

However, if your husband is older than you, and closer to retirement, his earning potential will be significantly reduced. You are younger, have working years ahead of you and earn a decent salary, so your needed may be deemed lower.

Your are on the mortgage for your current home as it's jointly owned with your husband. You are liable for half the mortgage, and if your husband stopped paying his half, the full amount! Of course, you will have to pay your half of the mortgage and any rent you are now occuring. Assuming you did receive £475K for the property, it's only made £10K since it was purchased. You would receive half of the £10K. The property market at the moment is dreadful, nothing much is selling, unless it's priced to sell.

You need proper legal advice. You will be asked the questions by your solicitor, as I have asked. So make sure you take any evidence of money you contributed whilst living in the flat. My honest opinion is, you will need to lower your expectations considerably.

Oooh, this takes me back about 25 years when my partner was getting divorced. Short marriage, no kids, she was 11 years younger than him, not a lot of assets beyond the flat. She went after his pensions, and her incredibly famous and expensive lawyers even tried to take my assets into account - we didn't live together and I refused point blank to give them any info! It went to court, where the judge rolled her eyes at her retinue of legal representatives, threw out everything apart from half the net proceeds of the flat and - wait for it! - £5k (both of which were already agreed) and refused to award costs. Mr G's costs were £0.00 as he represented himself. I would love to have seen her legal bill!

So, OP, do go for it! You could probably sell tickets.

Imagine if the boot was on the other foot. You sound very greedy going after the money he got for the flat heraus for and then his savings as well.

court will look at needs and as he’s older and earns less than you the court will most likely award him more money especially as he can prove his investment and you are younger and earns less than more.

I hope to God you don’t get half as you’re not deserving it and I mean that in the kindest possible way as any divorce should be about fairness.

This has to be a wind up. Nobody is this grabby are they? She's admitted he hasn't done anything wrong so there's no reason to screw him for every penny. She's been happily 'living in the moment' spending all her cash whilst he saved but still expects half of his savings. He put £200k in, she put nothing in but she wants half the house. We have to, have to put stricter laws in place to stop spouses attempting to do this. Even though this is clearly a wind up, the law is far too weak on sharing assets when one partner has put bugger all in.

@Divorcein40swoman
I think this belief / thinking is where you are going to get your self stuck.

Marital assets are split 50/50 AS A START POINT that isnt the same as the end point.
(Chatgpt can tell you this!)

You are not entitled to 50/50 automatically.

You will likely get something but it would be very unlikely to be half. If you did it would be with a lawyer and length divorce so you wouldn't retain the half anyway. Again chatgpt will prob tell you the same.

You are much better off adjusting to the reality and doing a quick / clean deal.

How much deposit do you need for a 2 bed in your area? 200k ? If you can service a 120k mortgage i'd look for 80 /90 k cash consider myself lucky and get on with life.

I do believe it’s all a little more complex than “putting bugger all in.” And whether he or she has done anything wrong (I.e. adultery) isn’t really applicable either in most divorces.

Op, let us know what shakes down and I wouldn’t bother posting on MN about this sort of thing. You get too many with an opinion not based on law.

But she wouldn't be able to afford to buy her house???

Its enough for a big deposit. You can't necessarily come out of a divorce and both have enough money to buy a house outright.

That sounds so satisfying

If there was ever an ad not to get married, this is it.

Yes what an absolute cheek. She wants to have her cake and eat it

I think 50k is a fair offer
In all honesty I feel sorry for him if you get your hands on any off the 200k he’s been fucked over

you couldn’t buy a house before you say you couldn’t buy one now nothings changed

There was when I got divorced, under 10yrs is considered a short marriage and over 10yrs is considered a long marriage. Due to having a short marriage all of my house deposit was returned to me, he didn't get any of it.

There is, and never has been, any hard and fast rule as to what is a “long” marriage. You could have a marriage which was only 5 years for example, but preceded by a 20 year period of cohabitation. That would be considered a long marriage.

Wow you are one entitled, grabby CF.

Openly admits she spends all her money and doesn't save, wants enough money for a house, half his savings and half his pension.

And people wonder why fewer people are getting married.

He put down £200k for the house which came from the sale of a flat he owned I his name before we married.

But if you were living in the flat for 9 years and paying half the mortgage - then that needs to be accounted for

As pp stated she is divorcing and the idea is you both leave the marriage with what you brought in

how long was your ex living in the flat before you arrived?

She doesn't actually say she paid any of the mortgage on the flat though