Short marriage no children divorce

[H90]

Hello,

Sorry for reaching out on here but I am in a bit of a situation and wanted some guidance if possible.

I was in a short marriage around 1 and a half years and my husband decided to file for divorce. We have no children involved. He has since moved out of the property and I am the only person living in it. I am a low earner so he is still paying for the full mortgage payments.

He has multiple property’s bought a long time before we were married. We bought one family home prior to our wedding which we both lived in (for around 20months). We bought the property in joint names and the mortgage is joint also. He paid a large deposit of £110k whilst I did not pay anything towards it.

His income is reasonable of around 50k per year and mine is around 15k per year but I have some health issues where I need time off work and not really much of a mortgage capacity to help me house myself in the future.

What is the best solution for me? Currently I am asking for 60% of the equity in the property which would be around £160k, which would help me with my housing needs for the future. He is not accepting this and has now filed for court.

@Scarletttulips so what ? Doesn’t change the fact op is a money grabber and should be entitled to nothing ! She’s not helped in any way earn that wealth. Not sacrificed anything. Not raised children

this is why I tell my sons to never marry so they don’t end up with a gold digger like op

OP, I'm surprised you are so confident on the outcome going to court. No one can say what it will be and two different judges in different jurisdiction could have different views.

Yes, needs are paramount, but only considering everything else. Your biggest argument of needs is your health, but again, it depends what you mean by health. A disability for life is not the same as low level anxiety or depression for instance.

As much as a judge will consider your needs, they will primarily consider how YOU can meet your own needs and being young, they might very well decide that you can meet them yourself over time. Being a home owner is not a need if you can house yourself in other ways.

Fighting in court is very expensive. Have you considered mediation? You can do mediation with lawyers too.

You said the equity is around 270 - so you would need to consider selling fees etc as well

half of 270 is 135

I think you need the solicitor to fight for you. The court hearings can be brutal.

Have you actually told your solicitor you age, and the length of your marriage ?
as it is usually someone much much much older that has ' needs ' to be considered, and with a longer marriage too !

I agree with other posters: you cannot swipe part of the deposit he put in just because you were legally married for a short while. If you put in no deposit and paid all of the mortgage payments, it makes no sense that you walk away with more than half of the equity. His offer of £20,000 is generous and will allow you to get started in a rental for a number of months whilst you figure out a longer time financial arrangement that works for you.

Imagine if the situation were reversed. If you wanted to leave a short marriage in which you had put in all that he has including money from parents for a deposit, and your parter had not contributed to the deposit nor mortgage, how would you feel?

This cant be real surely.... is anyone in your real life circle (not solicitor) telling you this is fair?!

I’d be telling my friend she was being a cheeky fucker if I heard about this dastardly plan. In fact I DID bollock a mate for trying to take her seemingly lovely husband to the cleaners, until I found out there was a back story at which point I relented a bit. She did extremely well out of it but it still doesn’t sit quite right with me. Still waiting to hear what OP’s husband has done so wrong to warrant fleecing him like this.

Get him to agree to 50% equity and you will have done well, particularly since you didn't contribute financially. If you go to court it will cost a bomb and you may come out with less equity plus the legal fees.

How come you're divorcing?

If they bought it as joint tenants though the assumption is they own it 50/50 and any equity needs to be split as such.

if he wanted to protect his deposit he could and should have ring fenced it and his argument that he paid the mortgage so the remainder is 30/70 is clutching at straws.

he may try to argue in court that it was never his intent but if that is the case why are they joint tenants because as I said he could have easily ring fenced his deposit and had them be tenants in common.

changing a joint tenancy so she doesn’t get 50/50 on his part is an incredible long shot partly I think because he seems savvy enough that if it wasn’t his intention at the time they bought to be joint tenants he could have easily not been.

arguing you need more thiugh on that length on marriage won’t do you any favours. Stick to the you bought it as joint tenants and you want 50% line

and yes it may seem harsh but is trying to change something retrospectively that is v difficult to change

Which is why if you are putting in different amounts of deposit you always get it down legally

If you represent yourself you will almost certainly lose. If you instruct a solicitor, their fees will take a large chunk of anything you might be entitled too. If you play with fire you risk getting burned. If you don't want to lose everything, I'd strongly recommend you take his offer. You're already financially better off than you were two years ago.

Morally, I think it’s my right to get what I deserve, and I should be able to house myself once this financial resolution is over.

Morally you're not entitled to anything- you didnt give up anything to enhance his career, or have children - you were married for 10 minutes and now you want to fleece him.

Personally I hope he gets a good lawyer and you leave with what you were offered in the first place.

If you were living with your parents before marriage, why should you be able to house yourself mortgage free after only 18 months marriage? So only 18 months living in the house.

First of all if he took a £50k LOAN from his parents for part of the deposit, that will be paid out first. There is no 'protection' he needed to take out. It was a loan and that loan is first to be paid

So you can stop thinking you can get your grubby mitts on that portion

Then the other £60k I believe he put in AS YOUR OWN SOLICITOR STATED, probably will be able to be ringfenced as it was such a short marriage with no dc.

So that leaves around £160k.

I think at the VERY most you will get will be half of this. But as you paid nothing towards this you may find you don't even get this.

But your dreams of getting enough to buy a fiat are frankly ridiculous. And immoral.

Op, please take on board comments.

Best case is a court may look at the joint tenancy as a starting point however I also think a judge would be sympathetic to your ex's position that the deposit came from loan and money he had pre marriage.

Getting a financial settlement in court is a very stressful process and expensive. Think around 25k and much more if it goes to final hearing.

I am surprised your solicitor has only highlighted "needs" as he seems to have ignored the balancing statements which relate to length of marriage, age and your income ability. If women could walk away with £150k after less than 2 years marriage there would be lots of publicity about it and the courts are certainly not keen to make unfair awards..especially as your ex is not a massively high earner.

You've brought £30k at most into joint finances but expect £160k? Ok then.

not even that - OP earns £15k pa - so thats a max of around £22.5k

She bought "groceries and other things" Its not like she supported exP up the corporate ladder by looking after the home and dc

She's trying to fleece this guy, because she "shouldn't have to go back and live with her parents"

Thank you. As I mentioned previously, I am only fighting for what is legally mine. I spoke with another solicitor who also said we should fight for 50% equity as a minimum. Maybe more. Is there any other solicitors or judges on this forum that could actually guide me in this respect?

Many other people are saying a judge would not rule this, but what evidence is there regarding that? In the eyes of the law I am legally 50% owner of the property and needs of housing will generally be the judges outlook to resolve this, unless someone can prove otherwise?

You wont get a definitive answer as it will be up to the judge on the day if you go all the way to court. Its likely most of any settlement you get will be eaten up in fees and court costs and you will regret not taking his £20k offer.
Your own solicitors will tell you what you want to hear to some extent as its in their interests to get paid. Hopefully he can afford better solicitors, as if any of my family or friends got fleeced like youre trying to fleece him I would be horrified to be honest...

You might not be getting the answers you want here but I cant imagine anyone in real life if you have anyone around you saying any different and not sure what these morals are you keep talking about 😬

Only the courts can decide. A short marriage, where you brought in nothing to it, and were dependent with no children, may give him back his deposit, and then split the rest. But it seems like you'll be getting very little out with your ongoing lawyers fees out of it as you're still contesting that and expecting hundreds of thousands to set yourself up.

Even if you were absolutely entitled to 50%, and that seems dubious given the length of the marriage

The absolute audacity is that you have decided you are entitled to more than 50%.

How entitled do you have to be to be married 18 months, paid for barely anything and to decide that somehow that means you are entitled to more than 50%?

You want more than 50%. Without kids the needs thing drops right down. Just because you want more money, it doesn’t automatically follow you will get it. Regardless of your housing situation. Save what you have been offered.