Ring fencing money in a house pre marriage

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DH and I are about to move house. The house we currently live in was purchased by me before we met and it is in my sole name but DH moved in when we married. We are also thinking about making a will as we have two children who we want to make provision for. We have been told to buy the new house as tenants in common and our solicitor now wants to know what shares we each want.

DH wants it to be 50:50. However prior to us getting together or getting married I owned a property which increased substantially in value so it meant I was able to put down a deposit of £65,000 into my current house. When discussing shares in the new house I wanted to have an increased share to protect the money I put in which pre dates our marriage. DH is very opposed to this for various reasons but principally says I will always have a greater share in any future increase in the house's value.

Has anyone come across this situation? And if so how can it be resolved? Can we sign a simple agreement whereby the money I put in pre marriage is ring fenced as opposed to having unequal shares?? If in a worst case scenario we were to divorce (and this is not on the cards) would the money i put in pre marriage be protected? It is causing a lot of marital tension and I am desperate to find an acceptable legal solution at hopefully not too much cost.

For will purposes you'd have to hold as tenents in common in unequal shares, but if you are providing for the same children there wouldn't be any point, so I assume you each have your own children.
For divorce purposes it won't be ring fenced. The fact you contributed capital at the start of the marriage will be a factor taken into account on division of assets, but over time its relevance will diminish. You could either enter in to a post-nuptial settlement, or put aside, say, £65k from the sale of the house and leave it in your name. Still wouldn't ring fence it, but would make it more identifiably yours on divorce.

Doesn't help your discussions with your DH I suspect.

Thanks for your responses - they are really helpful. It sounds like some sort of post nuptial agreement setting out the amount I put in and ring fencing it in some way is the best way forward (cant afford to set aside money in my name as we need it to put down for the new house). I presume this is something I (or both of us) would need to consult a solicitor over?
Collaborate - the two children who we are looking to provide for are both ours, not from separate relationships. I presume that having unequal shares in this instance would not matter?

That's right - it wouldn't matter.

How about instead of dividing the assets between the two of you (which may or may not work for all the reasons outlined above) you ring-fence the original amount by putting it in trust for your children? Then both you and your dh get the benefit of any capital appreciation on the rest of the money but if something were to happen to your or your dh or your marriage your children would get that money.

I have no idea if it is possible or how to go about that - I suspect you would need to draw up wills and include it in that plus the conveyancing - or if your mortgage company would have an objection but it might be something to think about?

Although I do think if you're married your assets should be pooled but that might be because dh put down our deposit on the house! I did contribute in other ways so we've balanced out in the end but I don't think it occured to dh to do anything other than a joint tenancy.

The danger in that Kate is that if OP and DH are like most people, if they divorce now they'd need that money to provide for their housing needs. Also if the put a % of the property in trust for the children there would be CGT to pay for any period after theymove out of the property,and it won't prevent Inheritance Tax being paid on that part as well.

OP can I ask whether you and DH earn a similar amount, and whether you both work FT?

I was thinking of a fractional ownership set up for the property with the children's share held in trust which I think would avoid the cgt problem because it's their main residence and the iht liability would be as normal?? Not that I'm a lawyer but in my past working life my team used to do iht planning and do some very creative stuff with trusts although I couldn't give specifics just general laymans' explanations that were given to me (I was managerial, not supervisory).

But for the sake of £65,000 I would just put it all together to save the hassle. If things were to be kept separate then being married isn't the way to do that.

One thing that's just occured to me: op, could you finance the new property without the £65,000? If so then you could pull it out and put it in an account in your sole name. Although I don't think that really solves much other than keeping the money clearly separated.

Collaborate - yes DH and I both do work and earn much the same income although I only work 3 days and DH works FT. I did work FT before having the children (eldest is 4). And you are correct - in the event of a divorce we would both need money to buy separate homes.

Katiemiddleton - we could not finance the new property without the £65k - it is part of the deposit which means we can afford the monthly repayments.

I like the idea of ring fencing my money in some sort of trust for the children, but does not address the problem of having access to it if the marriage did break down.

I will speak to a financial advisor tomorrow, but it sounds like it may be a combination of post nup agreement combined with some sort of trust in a will (not sure how achievable this is).

Babybarrister - I'm not sure I have any documents evidencing this. It was nearly 9 years ago now. Obviously the sale and purchase price of my previous house is as matter of public record and I suppose the solicitor who did the conveyancing may have a file showing what my deposit on this house was.