I have posted about this before, more regarding the emotional fallout I’ve experienced but I am still struggling to come to terms with this issue so I was wondering if I have any further recourse legally.
So when I was 20 years old and earning 11k per year in retail my divorced mother coaxed me to buy her council property with her (large discount). She had a partner who lived elsewhere but it was messy as it was an affair and my mother was still the OW at that time. My mum promised we would sell the property in 5 years and split the proceeds, she really gave me the hard sell, and at 20 on low earnings I trusted her when she said this would be an investment.
I moved out at 21to be nearer to a shift work job with better pay and said I would continue to pay my half of the mortgage but she said I was also responsible for contributing to the bills in the house so I actually was paying an extra £125 per month almost as if I was an ex husband paying her maintenance. So I was paying several hundred per month to her plus my own rent and living costs.
DP and I had a baby when I was 23 and I continued to pay everything I was asked for. I also had to contribute half the cost for home improvements. I did tell my mother I could not afford it but she would always say it was my investment and therefore half my responsibility to pay, she said that I’d get it back as it would add value to the property etc. I had to make hard choices due to lack of finances, short maternity leave, no wedding (just elopement) etc.
Towards the end of the 5 years childcare costs started to get DH and I into debt so I started to talk about when we would put the house on the market as I couldn’t afford to keep funding it, my mother flatly refused to do it and said she had changed her mind. I was in shock and didn’t know what I was going to do, it was a time of great stress for other reasons and I was under a lot of strain.
So her DP offered to buy me out undervalue and I was between such a rock and a hard place with overdraft etc that I agreed, I estimate that he got about £20k of equity for free from me, but sneakily they never disclosed a valuation to me so I don’t know for sure. It was all done officially. I was told that my mums DP couldn’t afford the full amount at the time but was assured verbally by my mum (I cant remember him ever saying it) that he was due to come into a bit of money in a couple of years and they would pay me a top up amount.
A couple of years later my mums DP’s mother died but they told me that she’d left her house etc to a Polish handyman who had befriended her, and all she had left mum’s DP was £12k which he promptly spent on a car, so there was no money to pay me any extra. With hindsight I’m not sure I believe this, he may have inherited plenty.
Fast forward more years and this year they have retired and my mum has been showing off about how much money she has in ISAs and pensions etc. Things were starting to not add up and we had a falling out. At first I was made out to be a money grabber. My mother has given me £10k for my kids accounts as a goodwill gesture but that’s it. I have had one text from her DP saying ‘no comment’ and that’s all from him.
I have been into my bank and they have done a subject access request so I now have all my old bank statements and stuff to do with the mortgage. It is shocking to see how much I was paying out to that house and I basically gave all the equity away for free to some bloke. It hurts because when I signed it over I was a 25 year old with a baby, he was a 50 year old, no kids, good job.
Was this fraud? Financial abuse?
My mum says not to be so greedy as I will inherit one day. But I’m not sure that will even happen as her DP is always chasing women and they aren’t even married. She also said that they are planning to give me the money I’m owed if I ever get divorced, this is completely bizarre as have been happily married for 12 years and they have always appeared to like my DH, holidayed together etc.
Have I any legal recourse to get my money back, I don’t know if I have a leg to stand on but I’m honestly so depressed by this. My childhood was unstable with an alcoholic father, I’m In counselling and trying to learn how to assert myself.