House/Mortgage situation

[asxd]

Hi,

Just after some advice reference marriage/children/divorce. I'll keep it as short as possible but hopefully will give all the relevant info:

Married for 4 years, have 2 kids with her, I have another child to another woman.
I pay 3/4 of the bills, she earns around half of my salary.

So my questions are:

1. She has admitted she couldn't afford the mortgage & bills on her own for our current house, does this mean she would only 'get' the house if she could afford it, surely the court wouldn't force me to pay for all the bills and mortgage for somewhere I wasn't living?
2. Could we agree to sort it out without court wise? Agree on an amount that is reasonable and then with a solicitor remove her from the mortgage and divorce that way?

Regards

Don’t know mate, so watching for someone whose been through it to comment.

one of the reasons I never married is this uncertainty.

Well you need to think about what’s best for the kids and where they will be living first and foremost I’d have thought. If she can’t afford to stay in the house can she afford somewhere to house them within a reasonable distance? Will you be having them 50:50? Can you both afford somewhere with enough bedroom for the kids

Normally the house would be sold and equity divided 50/50 is the starting point but the person responsible for housing the kids/ lower earner often gets more so they can afford adequate housing.

Have a look at what housing is in your area and what sort of deposit she would need to get a mortgage based on her salary. Would 50% of the equity cover it? If not she is in a strong position to ask for more especially if she will be kids resident parent.

You could agree it yourselves. She should of course seek advice and check on any benefits she could be entitled to.

I work full time but I do get Uc plus council tax discount plus maintenance plus child benefit which adds up to about 1k a month over and above my salary which may make remaining in the family home affordable.

Also you need to consider pensions as often these are worth as much as the family home.