DH wants to keep the house

[Sennen]

Hello, I'd appreciate any advice about this situation.

DH and I have recently agreed to divorce after 14 years of marriage, we have a mortgage of 138k on a house valued at 165k.
He wants to remain in the house and buy me out, we are both named on the deeds currently.

He wants to do the whole thing privately between us and estimates that after debts are paid he will give me 10-12k.
We have 3 DCs 1 reg disabled, I am not working and get Carers allowance.

I have applied to the council for housing and am Band E so could be waiting a long time.

DH wants to remove me from the mortgage then evict the DCs & I so that we are more likely to be housed.

My questions are,
Should the buy out be overseen by a solicitor or is it safe for me to let DH do it?

Can he actually evict myself and 3 DC's?

Could he easily get custody of the DCs as he is remaining in the marital home?

Its all so very confusing and I dont know which way to turn, DH has told me I'm not entitled to legal aid because he has an income, is this correct?

Go and get legal advice. Most solicitors do a free half hour. You have no income, so you may be entitled to legal aid. Whatever you do though, don't do it all on your DH's say so, as he may not have your best interests in mind.

do you want tor emain in teh amrital home with DC?
has he said anything about residence of children? contact with children?
you raelly need to get legal advice and dont sign anything away.

does your Dc need specialist adapted accoomodaiton eg wheelchair ?

tbh with such a small amount of equity I'd advise against it as

1. It would be nowhere near enough for a deposit even assuming you're working at least p/t

1. It may be over the threshold for means tested benefits so you'd have to use the money for every day expenditure till you came back below the cap (£8k for most benefits)

1. You'd be better off going for an outright transfer of the house and possibly offsetting your entitlement to part of his pension, if applicable, against his notional half of the equity.

1. Failing an outright transfer, maybe go for a Mesher order, whereby you sell up when the youngest child is 18 and give your ex a share of the equity on the basis that at that point you can buy something smaller.

You do definitely need to see a specialist family lawyer.

This advice is totally off the top of my head (am a family lawyer posting whilst cooking dinner) and may be rubbish, depending on all the ins and outs of your circs

from the information available so far I have to agree with mumblechum. I would (in a former life) always advise clients not to move out of the FMH and make themselves intentionally homeless.

As babybarristers says, have a look at the resolution website and find a lawyer who does public funding

Please get proper legal advice with all your circumstances taken into account, and under no circumstances move out until its all settled. You are in a stonger position than you think you are.

Thankyou all for your advice,
I've been on the resolution site and found a lovely lady solicitor nearby and have an appointment on friday.

She said I will almost certainly qualify for legal aid.

DH could easily move out as he has alternative accommodation provided by his work, he point blank refuses however :(

I don't currently work at all as my youngest is still a baby.
I would like to remain in the family home but cannot afford to pay mortgage/bills on my own.

I will update when I have spoken to solictor, thanks again for your help :)

Crikey Sennen I second all of the above, you stay put.

Unless your H refuses to have anything to do with the children, under the arrangement he proposes your local authority could refuse to give you accommodation suitable for all of you as they have accommodation available with your H.

I am glad you are able to get legal advice.