Can ex claim half of joint purchase despite clean break when we divorced?

[exsmex]

My exH and I rented a house back in 2006. We were married at the time. The deposit was lodged in my ex's name because at the time the tenancy was in his name but the children and I were named on it as being allowed to live there. My credit rating wasn't great at the time so his name was used. The deposit came out of our joint account. He left the property a few years later and we divorced with a clean break agreement. The deposit was never transferred into my name and I'm now trying to get this sorted. ExH has said he wants "his half" of that deposit. It's 13 years since he moved out and we have been divorced 10 years. When he left he wrote to the landlord and told her to transfer the deposit into my name. She didn't. I have a copy of that letter.

Does exH have a right to half of the deposit?

Hopeful bump

No, he doesn't have a leg to stand on. You have a copy of a letter from him to the agent telling them to transfer the deposit into your name.

Do you have an actual court order, not just a clean break 'agreement?

What exactly does it say?

Thank you both. I'd have to dig out the divorce certificate for the wording but we had no assets and a clean break was agreed upon and formed part of the decree absolute. I'm sorry I don't know the correct terminology used. I'll see if I can find it.

The tenancy had been in my name only since just after he left.

Just provide your account details to rhe landlord and ask for it to be transferred to you. They shouldn't enter into any correspondence either with your ex as he's not on the tenancy agreement

I've found the copy of the letter to the landlord which says in summary:
I request the tenancy agreement be transferred to exsmex.
I have already left the property.
Original deposit is in my name but it was paid from the joint account so it would be easier to just transfer it to exsmex's name.

He can claim whatever he likes, but it’s between the two of you what you agreed to with a clean break divorce.

If the letter saying transfer deposit to your name after he left the marital home was purely so that you and DC would not be evicted on the spot with you having poor credit and no assets to stump up a replacement deposit, and he wrote it with the expectation of the deposit being split 50/50 after you left, then he has a point.

What did your clean break agreement outline in principle?

Unless your agreement was made into a consent order when you divorced, he may still have a claim against you. If it was made into a consent order, whether he is entitled to anything depends on the terms of that order.

@Whyherewego it has to be done via the deposit scheme although the letting agent can claim it back for a fee.
I can't find my divorce certificate at the moment.

Get the letting agent to do it. Seems like it is worth the fee

What do you mean by “clean break”? Did you just get divorced? Or did you get a court order about your financial affairs?

Without a court order settling your financial affairs and saying that neither of you has any claim against the other, he can absolutely come after you for half the deposit.

I still can't find it but yes, it was a case of we had no claim against the other.

IF this is a rent deposit, not an owned house, then the amount is very unlikely to be worth the aggro or cost of a court order.

Ethically, if the money to fund the deposit came from your joint account, then I actually do not see why you should keep all of it yourself.

Practically, if the deposit gets paid back into your sole name, then I do not see how he can force you to give it back without going to court, which would probably cost more than the amount in question. But maybe he could go to small claims court and win (I am not sure). And if ethically there is no reason for you to keep all of it, then it maybe simpler and fairer to just give him the 50%, if that is how all of the other assets were split, unless there is some reason (which there may well be) for you to keep more than 50% of the joint asset pool as of the divorce date.

I am still in the same property. He said in writing for the landlord to transfer the deposit to my name but the landlord didn't do this for whatever reason and my ex never questioned it.
On divorce we had no assets to split.

You clearly had the rent deposit if nothing else.

You keep referring to this as a clean break agreement. Was it made into a consent order at the time of the divorce? And what, if anything, did it say about the rent deposit?

I am not a lawyer but I do deal with tenancy deposit returns and if the deposit is to be returned to an account in 1 name but it came from a joint account its usual to get the person not on the account to have to give written permission and then its fine

If you are not moving out of the property right now, then the deposit probably needs to stay where it is, and unless you now have the money available at hand to "buy out" your ex's half of the deposit, and also the willingness to pay it to him, he is probably out of luck at least until you move out.

I still do not see an obvious reason why it would necessarily be unfair for him to get that money at some point, but what is fair and what is realistic are often two different things.

Also, against that, in the event the children live with you, especially if it is not feasible for him to house them half of the time as well for whatever reason, then I think that would provide a strong argument for the money to stay right where it is now, at least until the children move out.

This is what the order says:
.

1. Each party's claims against the other for maintenance pending suit, periodical payments, secured periodical payments, lump sum for themselves, and Property Adjustment Orders do stand dismissed and neither party shall be entitled to make any further application ni relation to the marriage under the

Matrimonial Causes Act 1973

Is that all it says? In particular, does it say anything about the deposit? If not, had he already asked for the deposit to be transferred before this order?

Tell him to take you to court if he thinks he has a case and that the judge will overrule the clean break and his own letter. Prediction: he won't.

Did you pay a new deposit in your name?
Why is it being returned if you still there?

@prh47bridge this is the full version:

UPON HEARING the Applicant ni person and the solicitor for the Respondent.
AND UPON the Applicant and the Respondent each agreeing not to issue proceedings against the other under the Married Women's Property Act 1882.
BY CONSENT IT IS ORDERED THAT:

1. The Applicant's application for the Decree Nisi to be made absolute is granted.
2. Each party's claims against the other for maintenance pending suit, periodical payments, secured periodical payments, lump sum for themselves, and Property Adjustment Orders do stand dismissed and neither party shall be entitled to make any further application ni relation to the marriage under the

Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.

1. Pursuant to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 section 15 the court

considering it just so to order neither the Applicant nor the Respondent shall be entitled on the death of the other to apply for an order under section 2 of that act.

1. There be no order as to costs as between the parties.
2. There be detailed assessment of the costs of any party who is or was a person in receipt of services funded by the Legal Aid Agency.

It doesn't say anything about a deposit and the deposit has never been discussed from him leaving the marital home until this week.
The deposit isn't being returned. It just needs putting in my name because I'm the tenant not him. He has his own mortgaged property with his gf. In theory it could stay in his name until I move out at whatever point but it's a long term tenancy. I'd bet he would not share that deposit money on its return though.

If it’s a clean break and the deposit is in his name, then strictly speaking isn’t it his as you would need to be making a claim against him.