Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Divorce/separation

Here you'll find divorce help and support from other Mners. For legal advice, you may find Advice Now guides useful.

Scared I will lose my house to pay legal costs

16 replies

Mylo29 · 29/08/2021 11:36

Hi,
I am posting for a bit of advice on experiences.
My ex and I separated two years ago after 16 years together and ten years married. I remortgaged and bought him out of our house and we did a transfer of equity. He bought his own house. All was amicable. I gave him £16,000 with the remortgage and we said if I was ever to sell the house I would give him an additional £5,000. At that time there was around 30-40k equity in the house.
We have two children and we co-parent 50/50.
Now it has been two years we decided to start the divorce. However my ex suddenly demanded I get the house valued as he wants more money now that house prices have increased. He had previously signed a letter with the conveyancer stating that he gave up his rights to any equity.
At the time of the split we were left with equal amounts of savings- mine was from the joint savings account (which only I had contributed to) plus a compensation payment and his savings were from the sale of his car as he was getting a company car. My ex is saying his savings can not be taken as the “marital pot” as they came from his car sale whereas mine came from the joint account.
In terms of the equity in our houses there is around 40k equity in his and around 75k equity in my house. We both have similar salaries but he will have more pension as he is ten years older.
I have worked out an agreement based on the total equity equaling 115k- so 57.5k each. He already has 40k equity in his house, plus the 16k I have given him, meaning I owe him £1,500.
Please could someone tell me if I am working this out correctly? He is adamant it should go off the prices originally paid for the houses vs the value today and he is demanding we go down the legal route despite knowing I can not afford legal costs
Thank you

OP posts:
Palavah · 29/08/2021 11:37

Is he still on the deeds?

You might want to ask MNHQ to move this to legal matters.

MrsBertBibby · 29/08/2021 12:13

There isn't a right way to work it out. The Court will look at your respective needs, and the assets and incomes available now. The point about the car is nonsense.

I would get advice from a good experienced solicitor, and suggest mediation.

You could try this mediator, she's very good, very reasonable, and does it all via Zoom.
www.advantagemediation.co.uk/

MrsBertBibby · 29/08/2021 12:17

Also the Court will consider your respective pensions. You will both need to get up to date valuations for those.

Does he earn the same as you?

PlanDeRaccordement · 29/08/2021 12:26

Your ex may be wrong about the car. All property, including the car is joint property so in selling the car, he owes you half the proceeds unless you each had a car out of the split.

If you’ve got a legal letter he signed saying he has received his share of home equity at the time of the split, I don’t think he can come back and ask for more money from your house without you saying, ok, so date of financial split is now, therefore you would get some of the equity of his house. He can’t change the date of the financial split without it working both ways and your agreement to it.

Unfortunately legal costs are part of a divorce. You’re going to have to bite that bullet and get a solicitor. The costs can be kept down by going through mediation (which I think is required now anyway).

I don’t think you’d lose your house. You might be able to remortgage with an equity release to pay off legal costs. They are expensive but good legal representation often pays for itself by enforcing your rights and getting you what you are entitled to.

Mylo29 · 29/08/2021 12:46

Thank you all for your responses. I earn slightly more than him but I am on a secondment and in a year I will earn less. However his take home pay is quite a lot less due to him having a company car and paying tax on that. In terms of pensions I think he has about 5 and I highly doubt he will declare all of them!
I will definitely look into mediation, thank you!

OP posts:
MrsBertBibby · 29/08/2021 12:46

The letter about the house will have been for the benefit of the lender. It won't stop him seeking a proper divorce order. But whether he will like what that order says is another matter.

He's getting his house valued too, right?

Mylo29 · 29/08/2021 13:00

He will yes but he’s in that trade and so I’m sure he can get a low valuation or two!
I have had a valuation on mine when we split to buy him out, and I have had another one last week however there are a few issues with my house and I know a survey would bring the price down!

OP posts:
FlowerArranger · 29/08/2021 13:06

In terms of pensions I think he has about 5 and I highly doubt he will declare all of them!

But he has to. It's a legal requirement. All assets have to be declared.

LunaAndHerMoonDragons · 29/08/2021 13:25

Pensions go in the pot and if he wants house valued as it is now, his house, his savings, his pensions and your assets all go in the pot at current values.

PlanDeRaccordement · 29/08/2021 14:10

@Mylo29

He will yes but he’s in that trade and so I’m sure he can get a low valuation or two! I have had a valuation on mine when we split to buy him out, and I have had another one last week however there are a few issues with my house and I know a survey would bring the price down!
Ask your mortgage company for a valuation. It will be more accurate than an estate agents sticker price valuation.
Mylo29 · 29/08/2021 15:18

I got a mortgage valuation last year with a survey. He said that was irrelevant because they value low. I wish he would get some legal advice so he could stop bullying me to give him more money!

OP posts:
GentlemanJay · 30/08/2021 11:15

Did he actually own the car?

When we went to court my ex said I owned a car that was worth £10,000.

The truth was I owed £9,000 on it. I'd only paid off £1,000.

GentlemanJay · 30/08/2021 11:18

I had to take my ex to court to get an independent valuation.

She had a valuation done by a friend who was an Estate Agent. The house was massively undervalued. She refused to get two more estate agents round to get a second and third free opinion.

Hence I had to go to court to get an order to get it valued properly.

All because she wanted to stay in the house and buy me out for as cheaply as she could.

Mylo29 · 30/08/2021 14:54

GentlemanJay did it cost a lot to go to court? I keep hearing stories about it costing tens of thousands each!

OP posts:
KintsugiCat · 30/08/2021 14:56

Car and pensions are marital assets

RandomMess · 30/08/2021 15:06

Time to tell him you need a full financial disclosure including cars and pension.

It's worth getting advice from a Shit Hot Lawyer and self rep to court. Sounds like your finances haven't been signed off.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread