To say getting married to protect your finance is a joke

[bebanjo]

Been married 20 years house fully paid for. He’s divorcing me, his moved in with new partner. He’s severed the joint tenants, refuses mediation now has about 2 weeks to live.

What a shocking sequence of events.
This isn’t true aboutbdidinheriting you and I know that as my friends husband just died and didn’t mention her in the will so we were looking into it.

agreed. It’s a clear claim under the dependents act.

you would get what you would have been entitled to under a divorce.

you get 50% of the house anyway as that is your share. Plus argue that the other 50% is claimable towards you /your daughter’s child support depending on how other assets like pension are divided.

I think it’s more your kids you should be worried about and if necessary contesting the will on their behalf. He’s a bellend if he has not considered them at all and left everything to new partner.

Yes, you can sever unilaterally , but the presumed 50:50 split of share in the property can be set aside or adjusted by the cout on equitable grounds if there is evidence of the presumption being wrong.

Also the fact that he would have presumably supported them with maintenance had he not become ill and passed away.

Ah sorry if I missed that dc are adults

If the will was made before he married marriage invalidates a previous will. Only a will made deliberately I think the word is "in contemplation of marriage" would remain valid.

OP. I’m so sorry. This just seems so unfair it’s hard to imagine the law would allow it.

I thought that if you are still married then the assets are half yours. So surely that would trump his will - surely he can’t give away what is technically also yours?

I wish I had legal expertise I could give you and I’ll really hope that you get good news when you speak to a solicitor on Monday.

Whatever happens money wise please don’t let the anger eat you up because then he’s still impacting your life. Try and see the fight for what is morally and ethically clearly yours, whatever the law says, be a very part time job that you do at certain times of the week/month and the rest of the time try and live your best life.

Although there might be really complex grief reactions for you and your daughter because he treated you badly, you will be free of the behaviour forever once he has gone. Once the finances are sorted he will have no further ability to harm you once he’s gone.

The mistake you made was putting him on a house you bought.

Marriage would have given him rights over than, but death wouldn’t. You have him half to do what he wanted to do with. The protection marriage gives you is rights over things that aren’t legally yours. Death deals with things that are legally yours. You would’ve both been protected if the house was still in your name, but I appreciate that’s not much help to you now - but it does show that legal decisions do have future legal repercussions.

Others have talked about contesting his will go access his pension. His pension isn’t left under his will (and he can’t actually dictate how that is left, only recommend), so I’d recommend speaking to a solicitor after his death once you have the will as there’s a lot of wrong advice on here.

Thank you all that have left kind words of support, sympathy and encouragement .
im off out now for the day.
there is plenty ti think about 💐💐💐

That sounds rough. However at least now you can creste your own life and have nobody that can steal what you own. I created my own Budgeting Spreadsheet on Etsy when my ex left me. I am now better off than i was with him n i am no longer a slave and unpaid maid to an ungrateful man . I sell it on Etsy for a few pounds if you want one. I will share the link below. See it as an opportunity to grow- Onwards and upwards to your new life huni.xx

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4573942064/uk-budget-planner-auto-calculating

Go to see a specialist solicitor .

Until he dies or divorce is complete, he is still your lawful husband , and you already know that if he has severed the joint tenancy unilaterally you own at least 50:50 of the home under legal.presumption. What you don't actually know is what he wishes to do with his half interest.. Perhaps he has created a life interest in his half for you, or a trust for his daughter? Stop the speculation or asking social media, and get a qualified lawyer who deals with family law and probate to advice you on the specific factors that split to your circumstances.and financial position.

If he has changed his will and dies before the divorce financial order is made, you may lodge a caveat at the probate register to protect your position.

I have left an emotionally abusive marriage. This is not good advice in all situations. A leopard doesn’t change his spots. He has shown her who he is and it’s up to her if SHE feels the need to see him. A visit to him might actually be bad for her own healing.

Not necessarily, all he has done is left a massive mess for you and his new partner to sort out, you are still entitled to whatever you would have been able to argue you were entitled to if you were divrocing normally. He can try and leave 50% of the house elsewhere but if you have been a SAHM and supported him as a high earner and would have had a reasonable claim to say 70% equity then you can still go for that.

Solicitor here. You absolutely can sever a joint tenancy unilaterally, ignore anyone on here saying you can’t.

edited to say if he does die then you should take advice asap on putting a caveat on his will, and contesting the will under the inheritance protection for dependants act 1975 (this may be more relevant for your daughter than you given the split/divorce but a specialist solicitor would be able to advise on how the recent split impacts on this)

That was my understanding too. I so hope that the OP gets what is clearly morally hers. This is just the kind of thing my ex would do just to harm me.

I was a pension fund trustee and I can assure you that they have absolute discretion on who to award the pension too. It would be highly unlikely they would refuse to give it to a wife and child. They might divide it but they would not be likely to give it to a short term girlfriend. So don't lose hope - please fight!

To ‘tennants in common’? But she still owns half presumably? It just means he can bequeath his share to whoever he wants? But presumably whoever he’s left whatever to, would only be entitled to half as the OP can claim half? The consent order would determine what her share would look like and what’s left would go to whoever is named on his will?

No im not, im talking about the divorce element, op could have got more than 50% which she now cant if hes severed, or can she?

yes, by severing a joint tenancy the owners become tenants in common with a 50/50 split. The big difference is that if a joint owner dies and the house is held under a joint tenancy it passes absolutely to the survivor on death, and falls outside of the deceased’s estate/will, whereas if it is held by the owners as tenants in common the deceased’s 50% share forms part of their estate and passes under the terms of their will.

edited to fix typo

You cannot severe joint tenants without the agreement of both parties.

Yes you can as long as you’ve served notice on the other party. They don’t need to agree but they do need to be informed.

Not read all the responses op. Id call the land registry monday morning for info regarding changes. I cant see how if your stIll married the other woman can get his pension? What do you have you got in writing?

I'm sorry you are in this situation OP, but I don't see how it's any different to if you had divorced properly before he'd died. I mean you would have presumably had to share the martial assets, in divorce, so then he'd have still had his to spend or will to whoever he wanted if he died before he'd spent them.

Unless you mean he's taken everything, e.g. you joint own the house, but he's willed the whole house, the whole value of the house to his new girl. Surely though he can't get away with that because it will be on the deeds that someone else has ownership too, and they will figure out that you are still alive and owning before they close probate.

It’s completely relevant because (as the actual solicitor above has said), the amount the OP would have got on divorce is the amount she will be able to claim under the Inheritance Act.