Can my husband force house sale in divorce?

[skaw15]

Hi.
I'm currently going through a divorce with my husband. We have a 13yo daughter together, I also have a 19yo son and a 17yo daughter from a previous relationship. My 13yo and my 19yo both live with me in a 4 bedroom house. I have a joint mortgage with my husband, he has moved out and is privately renting a 2bed flat and I currently pay the full mortgage and bills. My husband has our daughter overnight one night a week and once in the week for dinner. He does pay child maintenance.
We have 165k equity in our property, however we purchased it for a low price with no deposit from my family. Could I be forced to sell if I won't buy him out?
Thanks :)

It doesn't matter what you paid for the house, only what its worth now. Best you're gonna get is go to court, hopefully the judge will say you can remain in the house til the 13yo turns 18 but then you either buy him out or sell

This is unlikely. The court really don’t like Mesher orders these days, particularly if there is sufficient money to house everyone (even if not to the same standard) if the property is sold.

’Everyone’ here means 3 people - the OP, her ex husband and the child of the family. As many people have said, her other children will not be taken into account.

My guess is a forced sale and 50/50 split.

Does anyone know if the OP will be forced to cover her ex’s legal costs if (when!) she loses in court?

That is totally irrelevant to the divorce. The only child that is relevant is the child you share with your ex. It doesn't matter how cheap you bought the house for, it's what it's worth now that matters. Divorce isn't settled on feelings or emotions, it goes on facts and what is legal. If you keep digging your heels in like you are doing you will end up having to sell the house anyway but will get less from the sale due to all legal fees.

Op, I fear you are going to lose even more money if you insist on going through with this. You are not being fair.
Your reasons for believing you should get more are not valid. The longer you drag this out the more it's going to cost you.
You should have accepted when he asked for 36%. You really need to accept now at 42% before he takes it to court as he could end up with 50/50.
I think you will remain stubborn and if you do whatever happens next will be your own fault.

Your assets are valued at their market price and he is entitled to 50% of the property. It doesn't matter if you acquired it under market value.
I would try and keep Solicitors out of the negotiation and try to mediate a path, with a little give and take from both sides you will save a fortune in law fees.
In reality you don't need a large home for your one dependant child, of course it would be nice not to move but prolonging the pain or the eventual buyout of the property( probably at increased value ina few years) will only make it harder to move on for you all.

When you mention you bought the house cheaply from your family, how much under the market rate did you pay? Could there be other implications, such as investigation into your family trying to avoid inheritence tax, capital gains, stamp duty etc.?