Ex fail demanding house deposit back

[Fenellapitstop]

I've finally got my nisi through. Our consent order has been drafted, all pretty fair, our pensions are our own, our debts are our own and following the sale of the house the proceeds are to be split 50/50 with ex returning me the money that I've cleared off the mortgage for the past year.

When we bought the house his df gave us the deposit, this was in lieu of a later inheritance in the event of his death and also because he had paid for his dds wedding and uni but hadn't done the same for ex.

About 5 years ago I lost both my parents. I inherited a sum which I split with ex which is now all gone.

When we broke up and discussed finances we had agreed that there was nothing to be done regarding the deposit due to it being a gift and the money ex had received from my parents.

My ex fil has now sent a letter to my solicitor demanding the entire deposit from me. Ex will not discuss this at all. I've contacted my original mortgage provider to get a copy of the application to see how the deposit is recorded, I've done the same to our conveyancer, I've also checked the deeds and there is no charge in fils favour. Is there anything else I can do to protect myself from this claim. Giving him the deposit back would leave me with nothing at all.

It seems to have been triggered by ex having been told to leave the house by me after hitting our ds. There has been a long catalogue of issues over the years

Has anyone got any advice?

Just ignore ex- FIL and carry on as you were. If there's no charge and no signed agreement that the deposit would be returned to him he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Yep just ignore!!!

It was a gift that you as a married couple chose to put into the house and therefore became a marital asset.

Ignore him.

Or get your lawyer to respond saying it was a gift, and there was never any agreement that it would be returned under any circumstances.

If he sues you he will lose!

Thanks everyone, his parents have always disliked me to a huge degree. They have said some truly unforgivable things in the past but this is just a whole new low.

I wouldn’t get your solicitor to write unless he tries to sue. Why spend your money on a reply when you don’t need to?

Fenellapitstop

IMO, you need to speak to your solicitor about this. It will only take your Ex to say that it was a loan or some such to change the dynamics of this.

Remember that your nisi isn't the financial break and that really needs to be clean or at least have clearly stated boundaries.

Solicitor has advised me to speak to ex, he's refusing. It really wouldn't surprise if they tried to falsify some documents which is why I've gone back to try and get the original application and conveyancing papers

Well speaking to your ex hasn't worked. So go back to your solicitor and find out if they have a legal leg to stand on and formulate your reply.

And they can't falsify anything that would implicate you. If they do come up with some piece of paperwork that your husband pretends he signed years ago to say he'd pay him back in the event of a sale, then he's liable not you. It won't have your signature; nothing to do with you. If he said he'd pay it back without informing you or getting your signature then that's his issue, not yours.

I will be, I was just on here to see if there was anything else I'd missed to counter fil

I rather suspect that it's tough shit as far as your FIL is concerned- The onus is on him to prove this was not a gift. There are lots of people who come on here asking for help to get money back from informal friends and family loans who are told they have no chance so I wouldn't worry.

Your sol. may have suggested you speak to your ex to sort this out as that would be the common sense thing to do but that doesn't mean that FIL has any way of legally making you give him any money.

Do you have any kids from the relationship and are you main carer for them? If so would be asking for more than 50% equity. It may be worth considering if there is a counterclaim you can make in order to encourage your ex to tell his dad to back the fuck off and stop being a wazzock.

We have two dc together, I am their main carer I also earn the majority of the money and have done for the main of our marriage.

There is no presumption of advancement, contrary to what previous posters have said. This means it is not FIL’s task to prove it was a loan. However there will be a lack of contemporaneous evidence, and I presume that it wasn’t mentioned as a loan in the divorce, and that the statement of information form was silent about it being a debt too. Respond to say it was a gift and then leave it at that.

@Collaborate

I'm probably completely wrong given my very limited study (looked into during a personal situation), but I thought that in the UK there is a presumption of advancement. I remember reading specific examples of cases where parents have bought houses for their children, and since they didn't have written agreements that it was a loan it was therefore presumed to be a gift and that was the end of it. T

The giver needs to rebut the claim, and that means they need to show proof such as maintaining the deeds or receiving any profit from rental income or something to show they still have an interest in the property so it can't be deemed as a gift.

@Spacezombies My bad. I had recalled the presumption of advancement applying just to spouses, but you are right - it also applies to payments from parent to child.

It is therefore for the father to prove it was a loan. It is however a weak presumption.

It seems to exist for father's to children but not for mothers to children (because it's so archaic) but they havnt actually enacted the act which repeals it so until they do, OP can probably argue it.

But it really seems like he's just being an ass and once it starts costing him money to fight for the claim, he might just back off.

I thought mortgage companies won’t typically give you a mortgage if the deposit is a loan? So presumably it will have been recorded as a gift?

@WrongKindOfFace

They will if you have an agreement drawn up to say something like "it's an interest free loan and repayments will not begin until the bank loan has been repayed in full".
My sister did that and got her mortgage.

But that doesn't seem to have happened here, so he'd need to prove it.

Yep, I’ve just been reading up and it looks like there would need to be an agreement and likely a charge on the property. And lots of lenders won’t allow it.

Thanks everyone, especially those that have looked into this a bit deeper for me. Hopefully your right and the docs I've requested will be enough to get rid of this demand. I get that they are disappointed for their son that our marriage is ending but this wouldn't be the right way to try and repair things

Even if it was a gift (and I don't think for one moment this is anything other then a back handed way of getting extra money from you) surely you would only be liable for 50% of the money if it was a joint 'gift'.

Just noticed the consent order has been drafted, so presumably not submitted to the court. Have a word with your solicitor. I'd want to add to the order a declaration from your ex that he agrees it was a gift from his father and an indemnity from him if the father ever tries to recover anything from you.

When our PIL gifted us money for our deposit we all had to sign to say it was a gift to show they couldn’t have a future claim on the house - do you know if you did this? If so, presumably it is tough shit.

For them, not you!

Ex has announced he's willing to discuss this on Wednesday, hopefully I'll have some news by then to counter this nonsense