Divorce housing rights query

[Peter47]

Hi

My wife and I are currently getting divorced and she is now trying everything she can to destroy me.

We have 2 children under 10 and jointly own or home with no mortgage. My father also lives with us and provided 50% of the money to purchase the house under the understanding that he would continue to live with us, but we never saw the need to make anything official regarding this.

Would my father have any legal right to the property or his his money that he provided to us on the understanding that he would always be allowed to live with us?

I have currently left the property for a few months but plan on returning as I have nowhere else to live and no prospect of being able to buy or rent any accommodation. Neither my wife or I are in a position to get a mortgage or buy each other out of the property.

My first thoughts are for my children and making sure that they can stay in the house with as little disruption as possible therefore selling the house isn't something I really want to consider.

My wife is currently trying to force my father to leave the property and threatening to evict him stating she doesn't give him permission to stay in her home.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

You and your father other need to get to a solicitor. You both need to lodge a claim with the land registry so the house can't be sold underneath you.

"she is now trying everything she can to destroy me"

Been there. Ex wife dragged out the Divorce for almost two years at enormous cost.

You might not have anything in writing about your father's help with the house purchase, but are there not any bank statements you can produce to show where the money came from? Or did father pay direct to the solicitors? Must be a record somewhere.

Good luck

There are records of the money being transferred, it was the proceeds from the sale of his home when he came to live with us. I just wasn't sure whether he has a legal claim to it?

If father is not named on the deeds I would guess that he does not have a legal claim, but I am not legal. Maybe a post on the Legal board would help.

From an inheritance tax point of view this would be considered a gift with reservation and part of his estate. To be an outright gift and avoid inheritance tax he would have to be paying a market rent to live in your house to show he isn’t continue to benefit from his gift. I would assume this would have crossover to other legal claims but he would need advice.

Yes. Land Registry records the ownership of the legal estate in the property, not the underlying ownership (the ‘equitable’ or ‘beneficial' interests). So you and your wife will be named on the register, but you and your wife hold the beneficial interest (50% of the value in the home) on trust for your father. In the event of a sale, he gets his money back and the rest is divided between you and your wife.

Think of the beneficial interest as being what the land turns into when sold – money.

But you have complicated matters. If the money was intended as a payment for living in the home, then you have a contractual licence, which you would be in breach of if he was forced to leave. Either way, he gets his money back (but no enforceable right to remain).