Urgent mortgage advice please - thank you

[Help1307]

Posting here as had posted in relationships but told better here -

We are buying a new house and current house is joint (both earned equally until I had DS2). I was doing bedtime with screaming tired DC and DH asked me to sign a paper saying oh it’s nothing just about how house is shared between us. I signed.

Just seen the email he sent to solicitors and opened the attachment which tbh I wouldn’t usually do bc I trust him and it is now saying we are buying as tenants in common - him 80pc and me 20pc.

Wtf does this mean?

If we buy the new house and we divorce - does this override the fact that we have been together 19 years and have 2 DC?

Does it override fact that normally assets would be split?

Or would it mean that if ever we did divorce I really would only get 20pc of house?

I can’t understand why he has done this. I only earn less than him now as went part after second DS. Otherwise for last 19 years we’ve been pretty much equal.

I’m mad and I don’t even know if I should be.

Am I potentially losing money from last 19 years or just extra that would be paid in respect of new house?

Thank you

That’s outrageous! Yes on the face of it and unless the courts intervened with an order it means you would hold the house in a 20/80 share. It’s really quite unusual for a married couple to hold as tenants in common rather than joint tenants. If he died his estate would get his 80% share - which would go where his will leaves it rather than necessarily to you ( again unless you involved the courts). Very scary he told you to sign and said it was nothing. I’d expect the house to be held as joint tenants and in equal shares.

How much equity is coming from current house? I think that you need to get more interested in the finances. We do have an uneven split but it was done in negotiation and to reflect a substantial inheritance.

Was the document that he had you sign a Declaration of Trust?

Thank you. Around a third of the new house price is equity, a third mortgage and a third is his inheritance. Then would tenants know common be normal but I should be expecting more than 20pc? It’s more the fact that I just assumed that in our marriage we’ve both put in the same until just this last year. The mortgage is still in joint names. So really should it be 60/40 me/him?

I think I would be emailing the solicitor saying that you signed the document without advice and wish to recind your signature.
You wish the house to be held 50:50
Or I might be stopping everything and reviewing the future.

That's a fucking disgrace and would be a deal breaker for me.

You do NOT make unilateral decisions like that in a marriage.

For me, that is the same as stealing thousands and thousands of pounds from me and I would never be able to trust him again. He certainly doesn't seem to view you as a partnership.

Have contracts been exchanged and a completion date fixed yet? Don't panic too much if not. As you are buying in joint names the solicitor acting for you cannot exchange contracts until they have gotten authority from both of you and you are therefore not committed to anything yet.

I would speak to your DH first saying you are not happy with the proposed split and was he aware that it isn't accurate as far as you are concerned. It may be that the solicitor has gotten some figures wrong/missed some information somewhere.

We wanted to reflect the difference in contributions and on the first death the person's proportion will be held in trust for the children so if the surviving spouse remarried their new spouse claim on the estate was limited. We worked it out as the inheritance went to the person whose parents had died (inheritance unlikely from other parents) and the remaining proportion split equally as although there has been some difference in income, this was largely due to childcare so both parties benefited. In your case the proportion would be 66% dh (33% inheritance, 33% equity/mortgage) and you 33% (equity and mortgage).

This was clearly discussed and actually suggested by the person without the inheritance. In your position though I would at the very least renegotiate the proportions. He has been very underhand in the way he has gone about it. It is that and the proportion which would ring alarm bells. We didn't look into great detail of the divorce implications but I think from what we did investigate the court could decide a different split, this might be more likely if there were dependent children for example. I wouldn't want to rely on that, say if you split up when the dc left home it would be harder to argue for a larger percentage then.

I would also investigate going back to work to have some financial independence- with a fair distribution of childcare expenses. When discussing it you don't need to link it with the house proportion, perhapsyou are just a little bored at home, but I would try to make sure that you are financially more independent and if you inherit then keep the money separately unless you renegotiate the proportion of the house you own.

It might also limit the money spent on care home fees (the reason why one party will not get inheritance).

Oh and solicitor was very clear that we were both advised to seek independent legal advice on the split. I would contact solicitor in the morning to put a hold on things until you can discuss it, if it has only just been signed there is still time. I think our solicitor did discuss it with us separately so you could ask the solicitor for advice and I imagine their advice would be to seek independent legal advice. We as a couple felt for us it was fair to have an uneven split but in all other respects our finances are shared.

Suck helpful advice - thank you so much. At least I know what I’m asking for tomorrow and what a reasonable position would be. Thank you ever so much.

Sorry, such

You've been together for the best part of 20 years? Jesus, I would be fucking RAGING.

Around a third of the new house price is equity, a third mortgage and a third is his inheritance.

Even if he wanted to "protect his inheritance', the rest should be 50-50.

No - actually fuck that. You're married, you've been together for 19 years, you have children. He is being an absolute Top Class Cunt and you need to find out why.

Have it out with him. And email the solictor now to say you think there is "an issue with the paperwork which you are reviewing" so please do not proceed using the attached documents.

This is disgusting. The amount you would own doesn't fit the situation and should have been discussed.

Has he been financially abusive before?

I know this is easy to say on mumsnet but he has chosen the amount that he feels you should own, which is incorrect and got you to sign this while distracted with no discussion.

I don't think I would be able to trust him again so after questioning him and understanding the situation fully, I would leave.

I should say that the split I calculated above is initially slightly unfair to your dh, it didn't bother us as there were other assets involved, but say if you bought a house for £300000 (100K inheritance, 50K your equity, 50K his equity and 100K mortgage) and then immediately divorced and sold it then the bank would get 100K back, you would get 66K and he would get 133K so he would lose £17K. For us this was not an issue as although we have a mortgage we also had other funds and over time as the mortgage is paid off the unfairness to in your case dh reduces. I really think that you should both have independent legal advice and come to an agreement based on that.

Another option we considered would be to ring-fence the value of the inheritance- so in your case with the figures above he would get his 100K back and the rest is split. This has some attractions for you in that if the mortgage is paid off and the house increases in value say to 400K, he would get his initial 100K back and the rest would be equally split (so 150K for you rather than 133K). Having said that if the house went down in value to 200K he would still get 100K and then you would only get half the remainder (50K rather than 66K). You might though decide that this is the best solution for you in the long term if you think house prices will increase (and they usually do). It makes the contribution of the inheritance clear and transparent (he can't argue that he hasn't put in only 100K extra) whilst still ensuring that if you divorced in 15 years time you get a split which recognises your contribution to the profit over the years.

I should say that I have no financial training, this is just based on our experience and you really should get independent legal and financial advice.

*you would get 66.666K and he would get 133.333K so he would lose £16.667K

Omg I would be absolutely furious my partner had asked me to sign life-changing documentation like that, no discussion, in the manner you have described.

Wow, I'm not sure I could forgive my dh for doing that.

Good luck with your chat with solicitor.

It’s so underhand. Don’t know if I’d want to proceed with the house purchase after that. You have to be able to trust your partner.

Apart from everything else that's going on, I would be making a will today for your money/assets to be left to your DC's.

Hope you get it sorted OP.

He tried to hide this from you?!
If so it’s fraud as you would need to sign yourself to agree to that

Hoes your marriage generally op? There are lots of good reasons to split equity in unequal shares and in the main as this is the matrimonial home it shouldn't matter on divorce even if he held it 100%.

It's more that he is being secretive / fraudulent about it. Call the solicitor. He's jointly instructed so will tell you what his instructions were and why. A good solicitor wouldn't produce a declaration of trust like that for signature without discussing with both parties as undue influence is a well trodden path. Phone up, play dumb and say that you don't quite understand the trust deed and could he / she explain it to you.

Hi op. Please do call /email the solicitor first thing. I question the validity of this document anyway because when I signed one of these my partner and I had to have an apt with solicitor to make sure we understood what we were signing before they drafted it.

It means your husband is trying to screw you out of money. It is lovely he was doing this literally while you were caring for his child (ren). Does he gave form for this kind of thing? What did the solicitor say?