Would I get at least 50% of equity of house?

[Earlgrey19]

I need to get some legal advice soon, as thinking about divorce, but just wondering if I would likely get half of house equity. We bought our house after we were married. Most of the deposit was money from the sale of my husband’s previous flat. We have 2 kids, age 2 & 5 and I have given up work to look after them. When I get back to work I’ll earn about 1/3 of what DH earns. He has a pension, I barely do. No other assets. I guess (hope!) I would bet half to enable me to buy somewhere with space for the kids? House worth around 600k and we own it outright. My worry is that I did not put much money into the house deposit. Thanks.

How long have you been married? Is there any paperwork marking out his deposit amount etc? You need a solicitor as there is a lot going on here and if the marriage is short, it may not be as simple.

We’ve been married 11 years. No paperwork noting his deposit, no.

I'd it's over 10 years, in England, who brought what to the party doesn't matter. I married with 40k equity in my own home whilst he had a rented room. I changed career for him because he didn't cope with my then male dominated profession and now earn 1/3 of what he does having then earned more. None of that matters. I got about 50% of total assets though he will argue it's nearer 55-60 because he is only looking at the house value and not that I left with nothing whilst he kept all the furniture, the classic car etc...

Hi Earlgrey

When I first applied for divorce I was a SAHM - 13yrs married. My solicitor told me straight 'get a job' because the court will want to see proof of your earning capacity compared to his.

I could only get a part time job as I had no help with childcare.

A barrister is 100% the way to go - it's initially expensive but they will assess and argue your future earning capacity, the needs of the children and will make child maintenance payments from him court ordered.

I never personally gave money towards deposits but we bought the marital home from the sale of a flat we both lived in while married - afaik it doesn't matter who gave what to the deposit if it's the marital home and you have children living there - the court just want to make sure first that the children are safely housed with their primary care giver.

I was awarded 2/3 of the equity and monthly maintenance until the youngest is 18 - my ex earns much more than I ever could.

Get a barrister, don't let him try and make offers outside of court when it comes to it, they can wriggle out of that in the future and omg did my ex try to bully me to agree to what he wanted outside of court - you need it rubber stamped by a judge, especially if you would ever want to apply for a mortgage yourself in the future and using maintenance as income - mortgage providers prefer court ordered maintenance.

Good luck