Pre-marital assets question

[NeedHandHoldThroughThis]

Sorry if it’s a stupid question but I’m so confused.
Amicable (so far) divorce. Long marriage. No children, very little in the way of pensions/savings.
Main asset is the flat, owned outright. Worth £500k now but at the time asking price was £300k, bought by me before we married with a £150k deposit that I got from my parents. I paid the mortgage almost by myself, he put in only £30k that he got from a pre-wedding inheritance.
Would it be seen as reasonable to take 150+30 (pre-marital money)=180 out of the value to split in half?
So 500-180=320/2=we both end up with 160?
Input from family law solicitors/mediators would be very welcome. Thank you.

If you can agree that yes

if he doesn’t and pushes for more it will end up 50:50 most likely

I'm not a legal professional but have recently been through a divorce with an inheritance involved.

My understanding is it's not black and white

How long were you married and how long before that had you bought the flat?

Would he be able to house himself if he gets the amount of equity you suggest?

On the one hand, when you married it became a joint asset and all money and assets are "in the pot" (don't forget pensions etc).

On the other hand, if there's enough money in the pot to meet everyone's needs you might be able to ringfence

And when you say you paid the mortgage, was this possible because he was paying for other joint expenses?

From his point of view, he did not have the chance to build up equity that he might have done had he been single and got his own mortgage.

Did it remain in just your name?

It is a marital asset which needs to be split between you regardless of where the money came to pay for it. As others have said the pair of you can agree split based on your own joint conclusion on what is fair. But if you don’t agree then the law applies. Now that law is different in different countries, Scotland will be different from England.

A lawyer could put together a case for you to have more but it would be a very uncertain application to the court. Nothing in your post indicates that there are even vague grounds for it to succeed. Other than your regret that you got married and combined your assets without protecting them.

This is going to gain you maybe £60k. Less if he is entitled to a bigger share for some reason. A legal fight could cost anything from £10k upwards. He just has to show up in court and show he got married and is entitled to a share of the full asset.

I mean even if you weren’t married he would have a solid case for 50% ownership of the house because it is obviously jointly owned and you didn’t protect the deposits. The only difference here is you are married and if one of you has a vulnerability that limits your ability to work to retirement you would get more.

No, sadly I could never convince him to stop smoking weed and get a job so apart from the £30k he inherited he never paid a penny into anything we ever did… which is why a 50/50 share feels so unjust.
If we hadn’t married he’d still be claiming benefits like when I met him, now he’s had 20 years of easy life and when I decided to no longer enable his feckless lifestyle I found out that guess what, I can divorce but I still have to bankroll him to the tune of a quarter of a million. I’ve been really stupid I know

I'm sorry, that is galling 😞

You will have to take advice and weigh up the chance of success if it goes to court, plus the emotional and financial impact of a legal battle.

You can theoretically agree anything between yourselves but if you want the financial consent order signed off by a judge to make it binding, there is always a chance they may send it back if they think it's not equitable 🙁

Not what I wanted to read but I appreciate everyone’s expertise and thoughtfulness.
Thanks 💐

Wouldn't the £150K "loan" be excluded from the total assets?

If the two of you can agree on this scenario then that’s fine. If he goes for 50%, you could end up spending the money to take it to court and still end up with 50% but also the debt from the legal fees to fight it. Your best bet is to come to an agreement outside of court.