Joint borrower sole proprietor mortgage and divorce

[PocketSand]

Can anyone please advise how a JBSP mortgage in my STBEX, me and my adult disabled son (where my son is the sole proprietor) is treated on a divorce. ATM the monthly payments are made by STBEX and I live rent free in my son's house (I am his carer). He has said he will continue to make the payments (10 years and £187,000) left on mortgage. Our other 18 year old son also lives here rent free. We have no other assets or debts apart from his government department DB pension which I have assumed will be split 50:50.

The house was bought to offer our son security as he is unlikely to ever work and can't live independently. I am now concerned it will be treated as a marital debt and split 50:50. I only receive CA so can't pay mortgage. Can draw civil service pension in a couple of years. So I am concerned that the court will consider it fair to not split pension if he remains responsible for mortgage payment.

I can provide more info if anyone can help or can advise where I can find advice.

If it is owned by your son it is not an asset that the court can adjust on divorce.

However it is a resource available to meet your housing needs. You both need some legal advice to see where you both stand but your situation is not straight forward.

This is nothing to do with the divorce. Neither of you own it. You remain joint borrowers and your son the legal owner. Only assets you or him own are considered. Your kids assets are not. However the debt will be considered when a financial settlement is decided.

We have no other assets or debts apart from his government department DB pension which I have assumed will be split 50:50

this is a very poor assumption to make. And you need to accept you habe no assets, the asset is your sons. If you’re equally liable to pay and cannot, then he may agree to pay your share, In return for you not touching his pension. The pension also has to be valued, as the value is not what’s in it.

@Myblindsaredown yes I have been thinking about this. ATM he pays the mortgage and so covers my liability (and that of my son). We are both guarantors.

But if the debt (as guarantors) is split equally and if gifts to enable purchase (£60,000 from him plus £100,000 from me plus stamp duty and moving costs) are taken into account (plus long marriage and my inability to work due to caring responsibilities which I have not costed) I would only 'owe' him around £70,000 based on current mortgage. This is less than 7 years entitlement to a 50:50 pension I can claim at 60.

It would be mad to give up pension entitlement. Especially as pension income would enable me to pay my share of my son's mortgage. The pension is not small. I would be giving up hundreds of thousands more than outstanding mortgage. Sharing the pension and the guarantor mortgage debt would definitely be in my interests.

@Collaborate I am aware that living rent free in my son's home meets my housing needs atm but only if I can fulfil my needs as a carer. I have no assets in my own name and could not continue to live in his house if I needed care myself as he would be unable to provide it. Ideally I would like to be able to live independently if I needed carers to come to the house. He could never tolerate this. I want to preserve my pension entitlement to contribute to his mortgage in the next 10 years but be able to move out if I can no longer be his carer and he can't care for me.

Op, I’m not sure you know, but for divorce pensions are valued at a cetv, cash equivalent transfer value which is very far away from the pension pot.

Yes I am which is why I will have PEOD as I have been advised CETV will not be accurate with DB civil service pension.