Divorce - entitlement when property is owned by one person

[JanetJanets]

Does anyone know how I stand with regards to my property which has never had my husband’s name on the mortgage, which has been paid solely by me? Does he have any claim to my property, the deposit for which, was funded by the sale of my former property?

Are there any kids?

The legal effect of mariage is to pool the financial resources of two people into a single unit - the marital unit. This provides some stability as you have both the time and the earning power of two people, and you are mitigating the potential risks of an uncertain future by sharing the potential risks and potential rewards with a life-partner, so getting two rolls of the dice in life's lottery rather than just one. It is not important whether a mortgage payment, or any other specific bill, came out of one particular account or another, it is all marital assets. Especially if there are children, but also sometimes when there aren't, there is quite often one member of the partnership who contributes very little fincially but a lot of time and effort to running the home and supporting the family. In those cases the other person may well have been responsible for providing the money to pay all the bills and mortgage but that contribution is of no greater overall value than the non-monetary contributions of the other partner. In the event of a divorce the default assumption should be 50:50, with common sense available (usually mediated by a judge or through independent mediation) if 50:50 isn't appropriate.

This should be taught in schools repeatedly because no one should be entering into a marriage contract with anyone without understanding this. The number of people facing divorce without an understanding of the legal effect of their marriage, as well as the number of women left destitute because they didn't understand how marriage would have created some stability and safety for them before they gave up their careers and destroyed their earning potential, is horrifying.

If your STBX hasn't contributed anything either financially or in terms of household management/unpaid work then maybe an uneven split would be fair but any judge/mediator would need to consider a lot of factors to work that out. What has your STBX done with their earning power, time and money over the last 14 years?

Jumping on the post to ask if any of you had a Deed of Trust?
Our conveyancer is insisting on it, despite having a post nuptial agreement in place due to unequal assets and previous children.

I do not wish to make a claim for any of my husband’s assets. Whilst it may sound strange, I don’t know what he has savings-wise or any of his finances, apart from his property, nor do I really care. We just want to walk away with everything we have in our own names, and that is it.

You will both have to make a full financial disclosure then apply for a consent order. It may be that the courts will be happy with your proposed split or that they will agree it after talking to you.

Wow this gives me hope. Similar situation to yours, my husband stashing money abroad and I have the home and the pension here in the UK. The 50/50 rule is medieval!

@cato40
What 50/50 rule? Read the thread!

No children. No Deed of Trust. My husband’s contribution financially has been until recently £100 a week, increasing to £150 circa three months ago.

Why on earth did you go that long with him only paying such a tiny amount to your living costs?

Was/is he working?
He must have been saving up a fortune.

He has worked intermittently since 2015 when he was convicted for an offence which limits his prospects for employment.

It's still not clear whether he's been an abusively parasitic cocklodger for 14 years or whether he has been working hard on something that doesn't pay well/at all. Given that it's pretty unlikely that someone guilty of the former would be happy to walk away without a hefty share of marital assets, I suspect the latter.

Mine was finalised 11 years ago and whilst the judge pulled a face at the fact I was proposing a financial consent order that left me technically less well off from an immediate assets perspective and I agreed to take the debt I'd protected my pensions which was my priority.

I think if you both have a mutual agreement in place you're both happy with plus it's countersigned as a FCO then you should be ok with a settlement based on that mutual agreement esp given no joint children to consider.

Just make sure you have the FCO before you proceed with the absolute else you could win the lottery/inherit a small fortune/any number of other scenarios before the FCO is agreed (it can drag out - it took mine an extra 18 months) and he'd have a claim on it. I also know folk who never got a consent order and their ex potentially still has some claim on their assets years later.

I am hoping that the fact he has been in and out of employment because of his criminal record affecting his job prospects might work in my favour.
I shall take the advice of my solicitor and many of you, and go down the Consent Order route as I don’t have any other option as far as I can see.

You needed to divorce him years ago! You seem to have put up with him beyond what is reasonable.

I understand why people are questioning this. I was diagnosed with a chronic illness several years ago, underwent various treatments, including surgery around two years ago, and am now feeling well enough to deal with the situation.

Thanks for your comments. Most helpful.

Hi OP, sorry I know it's an old thread but did you manage to get divorced with everything in your favour?

I'm divorcing my husband of 46 years how can I make he gives me 50% of his assets

I live in the uk

You should start your own thread rather than revive an old thread. You may find that posters don't notice this is an old thread and respond to the OP rather than you.

As you are in the UK, you are entitled to a fair share of the assets. Everything goes into the pot to be split between you - his assets, your assets and any joint assets. That doesn't necessarily mean you will get 50%. That will be the starting point, but there are various factors taken into account that may mean you will get more or less than 50%. You need to consult a solicitor. When they are in possession of all the facts, they will be able to give you a realistic idea of how much you are likely to get.