Assets and devorce

[Joliv123]

My partner is still not divorced, says he wants to sort out the finances with his wife prior to starting devorce proceedings , we are buying a house together , my concern is that if anything were to happen to him His wife would be next of kin and have a right to the half of the house, this makes me nervous ,

Yes be nervous. There are ways around this but you need legal advice.

There are other risks too. She is entitled to half his assets including his stake in your house until this is settled. It can take years for this to happen. Where is his deposit coming from and how sure is he that she doesn’t have a claim. By sure I mean based on legal advice and not just how much he wants to give her.

He hasn’t taken any legal advice which I feel is naive , he wants to split their asserts fairly and amicably without using legal help, then get a devorce, I think he is trying to keep everyone happy , or not actually break his ties with her, he is getting a morgage for his share of the house, but this will be paid for by their business of which she has 49 percent stake

Put a halt on the house buying until things are sorted OP. Otherwise she could have a claim on your house and force you to sell up if that's what suits her.

I know of two couples who split up very amicably to begin with, everyone best of friends, but then things got nasty when they started talking about money.

The problem with wanting to split the assets fairly is that 'fair' can have different meanings to different people in this situation. I don't mean she will be greedy and want to take him to the cleaners, but that something that seems fair to him may genuinely not seem fair to her. Especially if there are complications like owning a business together. I bet they'll both have a completely different belief of how much time and effort they individually put in to building up the business.

Thank you , it’s a project so he is going to pay for the initial outlay then when I sell my house I’ll put in half, however I’m going to talk to him and express my concern and not comitt my finances into this until he’s legally dieters with his wife

If he won't get legal advice you need to. Buying a house with someone who is married to someone else can get very difficult if they haven't already sorted the financial arrangement out.

He needs legal advice and quite frankly
The divorce and division of assets needs to be finalised before your mix your finances with him . Even if there has been an apparently non legal amicable split and division one partner can still go back to court at a later date - he needs to make sure he gets his fair share as does she and any children they might have before moving on . Protect yourself .

Do not buy a house with him until he is divorced and has a financial consent order.

His wife will have a claim to your house otherwise and possibly your income.

If both of them are in agreement sorting out the finances isn't going to cost loads in solicitors fees as they just need to use one solicitor, and they can split the cost. This means it is a couple of hundred pounds which is less than the cost of the divorce.