Urgent help sought -House Rights /Good affordable divorce lawyer.

[ankara47]

Guys this is my first contribution-I need your help desperately and pronto!I am a UK citizen and I went to marry this guy abroad in 2005.I left him there abroad so we could sort out his residence here(UK).He later joined me in 2006 when his residency had been sorted out.However ,before he joined me I already had a flat that I had purchased through a mortgage on my own.I then decided to purchase another property in 2007 and sourced for the full deposit needed for the property by myself. I added him on the title deed and arranged that he be added onto the mortgage itself. This property was specifically meant to cater for the complex needs of my disabled son from a previous marriage, we did not have any children in the marriage.However I started having problems with his payments where they were erratic meaning some months I would end up having to pay the whole monthly mortgage sum by myself as he could not afford his part.Our relationship soured and deteriorated and in 2010 January he moved out.We later divorced in 2012.Since moving out and getting divorced I have been paying the mortgage by myself to date. I am now in a new happy relationship ,I got married 2017.My questions are:
-what is he entitled to considering he only paid a very small amount of money towards the mortgage (around 7 months worth).
-when we divorced he did not make any financial claim because he was aware that he did not make any substantive contribution to the property.
-I have spend huge sums of money adapting the place so as to cater for my disabled son.
-the ex left me to deal with financial constraints of the mortgage and the disability of my son without any support.
-I went into a lot of debt just to afford the mortgage which I am still paying for.

I want to remove him from the mortgage and title deed but he is refusing to cooperate.How can I proceed in doing this by myself without involving him?
Anyone know of a good but affordable lawyer in London?Please!

I need urgent help with the above folks.

So you divorced without a financial settlement?

No there wasnt a financial settlement.He just moved out and that was it.

So your divorce is not yet finalised? You need to speak to the solicitor who acted for you in your divorce. You cannot remove him from the title deeds unless he agrees. If you have a lender they will not remove him from the mortgage unless he consents and you can prove you are able to meet the payments alone. A financial order should have been made as part of the divorce which would have settled this. If he divorced you and you have subsequently remarried this will further complicate things

We are divorced-its just that the financial order wasn't done because from the beginning he never put anything towards the house apart from 7 or so moths payment towards the mortgage.I suspect he didn't want to pursue this when he left because he always knew he hadn't contributed much towards both the deposit and mortgage.He has not paid anything towards the mortgage since leaving which is almost 10 years ago I have always paid on my own .Considering he wont want to go quietly what do you think I should do in these circumstances.

Go back to the solicitor who acted for you in the divorce and apply for a financial order.

yes you need the financial order. If it is an English divorce it will be based on a starting point that he and you are each entitled to half your current assets less debt no matter whose name was in them or who put what into them unless it was a very short relationship. I am nots aying he will get half of both properties but that is often the starting point so seeing a solicitor is a good idea and then getting a court to decide and seal a consent order if he will not reach agreement with you. Do check which country you divorced in however as I see you married abroad. It can make a difference, even between England and Scotland.

Your situation is too complex for anyone in the know to advise on in this message board.

You need to sit down with a solicitor and get some detailed advice. Many will offer a fixed fee initial interview.

Agree with Collaborate. As you have remarried that complicates the situation significantly. See a solicitor.

The needs of your disabled son will be taken into account too. Might be worth thinking what he might settle for and how you could pay it.

Thanks guys for all your advice.

Good luck

I believe after 7 years of marriage, all assets in the marriage become joint (it could be 8 years though, so google) if he divorced you before then it's possible that your pre existing assets will be separated out from joint assets, and you get that value and half of joint assets (ie the house which is in joint names) Your disabled son and caring responsibilities will also be taken into consideration. Before you go to a Solicitor, go to the Citizens Advice Bureau, and/or get on the phone to Rights of Women or Women's Aid, they will give you free legal advice so you will have a starting point - not all solicitors are equally good, obvs, and the expensive ones don't necessarily do a better job than the less expensive... The CAB can signpost you towards divorce lawyers though.

I believe after 7 years of marriage, all assets in the marriage become joint (it could be 8 years though, so google) if he divorced you before then it's possible that your pre existing assets will be separated out from joint assets, and you get that value and half of joint assets (ie the house which is in joint names

This is nonsense.

A marriage of less than 5 years is generally considered by the family courts to be a short marriage. Where a couple’s relationship is short, and there are no children, the family courts will generally consider an equal division of all assets accrued during the relationship to be appropriate. However, when the marriage has been short if assets were owned solely by one party before the marriage they are less likely to be split on a strict 50/50 basis, it is more likely that the party that brought the asset into the marriage will retain it, or at least a greater share of it. Marilyn Stow Blog.

It’s nowhere near that simple. 5 years is a rule of thumb but loads of factors would change that and assets don’t suddenly become joint after that deadline.

No one other than a solicitor would be able to help you. The fact that you have divorced and remarried puts this waaaay beyond the scope of a message board or the CAB. Whoever represented you in the divorce should be the starting point as they will know all the ins and outs.

@Highlandheath Your initial post on this thread did not say what your second post said. It was so poorly worded that it was entirely wrong and misleading.
Your second post is too simplistic to be accurate.

Why oh why do people with inadequate knowledge come on to these threads and spout this kind of drivel? Listen up people - don’t do it! Someone might think that you know what you’re on about and act accordingly.

Avoid lawyers like the plague, is my firm advice! Make sure you know as much as you can from the CAB and from Rights of Women and Women's Aid, and don't let a lawyer bully you...

Did the original lawyer who represented you in the divorce not ask any questions about your financial situation and how you wanted it dealt with? If not they haven't really done a particularly good job, and if they did, but ignored you took your money, and ran, then they haven't done a good job either. I'd just get your file off them and read it before you do anything else, insist you get the file notes, telephone attendance notes, as well as correspondence, read it critically and see what was discussed at the time. I've just spent a week trying to get my files back from a lawyer, it took ten emails, she wanted to meet me rather than hand the files over, very bizarre, when I got them I understood why she was so cagey about handing them over.... You may have a claim against the lawyer, because this should have been dealt with before your decree absolute to stop the ex coming back and trying to raid your funds and mess things up for you...

Avoid lawyers like the plague “and you too can be as ignorant as me and also get it all wrong, but that won’t stop you going on MN to dish out your crap advice.”

Collaborate: Your post: "Avoid lawyers like the plague “and you too can be as ignorant as me and also get it all wrong, but that won’t stop you going on MN to dish out your crap advice.”

??? Don't really understand what you are saying here, and not sure how this is helping the OP.

The CAB have solicitors and barristers, and can help with initial, free legal advice, they have with me. Women's Aid are also very helpful, and provide free legal advice, they are also Solicitors and Barristers, but not motivated by fees because their work is pro bono. Some law firms insist their solicitors carry out some pro bono work, and they may be worth approaching. My post should have read "avoid getting expensive legal advice from Solicitors like the plague". It's a good idea to go into any situation as informed as possible, and the CAB and Rights of Women and Women's Aid will be able to give pointers. The SRA can also give an indication if the original solicitor has mishandled the divorce, although the OP makes no mention of a solicitor, so maybe none was involved.... Anyway, good luck, and I hope you find a way through this...