Can I take furniture etc after divorce if I bought everything?

[cupcakegirl22]

I was just wondering how splitting household items such as furniture works after divorce? While I was married I payed for every single item in the marital home by myself. We are now legally divorced and the marital home is up for sale. I know usually you have to split everything with your ex, but is this still the case if they didn't pay towards anything? also, my ex is still living in the marital home and it's taking a long time to sell.

I have had to move out due to on going domestic issues, and am looking to rent privately. I'm just wondering if I can get my furniture back even though the house isn't sold, or do I just have to buy all new furniture until the house sells and then divide after?

It’s a martial asset. Doesn’t matter who bought it. You will have to agree who gets what. Value wise it isn’t worth much but replacing it is expensive.

Do you need it? Can you afford to replace it.

I'd let them have it, I'd rather start afresh with minimal memory of them unless they were particularly expensive or sentimental pieces, I'd re-evaluate what my style is now and slowly buy new things.

If you’re divorced hasn’t this all been agreed?

No, it wasn't agreed. I just did the divorce through the Gov website, as it was the cheapest and easiest way at the time. I'm not really in a position to be able to afford all new furniture, I've just managed to save enough for a deposit for private rent. The furniture I bought for the house was quite expensive, even if I'm not able to get all of it back, I would still like some of it. I also paid for all the appliances such as washing machine, fridge freezer and dryer and I'm not financially able to repurchase all of these things again.

Definitely remove all of your belongings. Why should he get away with taking expensive items that you paid for.

It doesn’t work like that.

My ex husband wouldn't let us take anything when we split, I had to buy everything new! I ended up getting a lot of it put on the credit card as I couldn't afford to buy everything outright. He wouldn't even let us take the kids beds.

I had to take out a large loan to pay for all the furniture, as he wouldn’t contribute anything towards the house contents. I’m still paying the loan of, which is another reason why I don’t just want to leave all of it there. I also racked up a credit card debt to pay for all the paint, curtains, blinds etc for the house. Leaving it all to him just feels so unfair, especially when he makes double my income.

In that case, surely the loan is also factored in as part of the assets. It sounds very messy.

So you’ve divorced without a consent order or financial settlement ?

How have you decided to split the assets from the house sale? If you can evidence that th loan paid for the furniture then it could be classed as a matrimonial debt and should be paid off with profits made from house sale before the equity is split but then the furniture, should also be split. Alternatively you can suggest that you continue to pay the loan but keep the furniture.

We didn’t have any agreement before we divorced. I spoke to a solicitor after and she said it would all get split when the house sells. But it’s been on the market for months now, and I’m in a position where I’m living with family and have to move out, so will need furniture

In that case it sounds perfectly fair and reasonable that you would take all of your belongings / furniture / white goods with you / remove them from the marital home as he refused to contribute towards their purchase and you are still paying the loan off for them. He earns double your income and refused to pay for anything? Sounds like financial abuse. Crack on OP and arrange for removals. If he doesn't like it then tough...he can afford to buy furniture etc for wherever he ends up living but you will need all your things to furnish your new home.

The OPs ex is living in the property. She won’t be able to clear it out without a confrontation. If she does manage to win that then her ex still has control of their biggest asset. He can really mess her around financially if he wants payback.

They need to agree how to split assets and debt. Until then it’s all joint. That’s how marriage works.

Get the house sold first then either take the furniture and let him fight you afterwards. Or sell it with the house.

I can’t see him winning a small claims court if you’re still paying the loan. Unless he wants the loan considered a marital asset as well.

Same!! He took everything and I’m left with debt from setting up home from scratch

If you have debt relating to items bought for shared use, that’s his too. The furniture should be shared between you. You need a financial consent order

I'm going through the same thing myself, the police couldn't help and they said it's classed as a civil matter, and to file a small claims court. You can get the fees covered if you file a "help with fees" application, but the actual court date will be months away. I filed mine back in October, and my ex-partner rejected the mediation, so the official court date is now in March.

Make sure you get all the invoices for all the items you've paid for, but I'm not sure how much you will be entitled to. With my case there's a lot of items I didn't include, which i'm hoping they will add, because it's worth thousands yet I still feel guilty claiming for it. I'm not sure if I'll even get the money back yet, all I can do is wait.

my brother's ex wife agreed to split everything 50/50 and then she emptied the entire house and took all his belongings! Like others have said the police couldn't help / didn't want to. He spoke to his solicitor who was pretty useless and said nothing can be done now just accept it....