Does he own half the house

[Frenchie01]

I have a half sister who has mental health problems and her dad has recently left his wife and moved into her flat. I am concerned this is putting a strain on her and she says she isn't happy with the situation but he has nowhere else to go. Him and wife own their house and have both agreed to split up and he has signed papers agreeing to divorce. He chose to leave to leave the marital home and presented hself at his daughter's saying hes homeless. He has never worked his wife always worked and he cared for children who are now all adults. He is saying his soon to be ex wife will be buying him out of the house but then on the next breath he says she's paying him 350 a month for his share of the house until she can remortgage and give him a lump sum. This has been going on for about 8 months now, he is telling my sister his daughter that he's not even sure of he owns half of the house as he dosnt know if f his names on the mortgage! But surely he is entitled to half if they are married? They bought the house together after married. I think he is just taking advantage of my sister and not telling the truth about this situation

Yes he will have some entitlement if married however not necessarily 50% depends on the length of the marriage .

They've been married at least 25 yrs I would say, and they bought the house after they were married. I just think hes not being straight about the whole thing because he's happy dossing at his daughter's for £40 a week ( he is an alcoholic). I think he's using this whole not sure if I'm entitled to anything from the house story as an excuse as to why he can't afford a place of his own, but he is claiming universal credit but says he can't get anywhere with the council or find a private rent to accept benefits. But if he's not entitled to anything from the house, why is the ex paying him this 350 a month, I dont get any of it.

After a 25 year marriage, he will almost certainly be entitled to half the marital assets. House, pension etc.

Until the house is sold or his ex buys him out, she is paying him £400 a month to rent his half of their house, ie to compensate him for loss of his half of the house.

Have they filed for divorce yet? The finances won't be settled until the divorce is finalized. Your half sister could be in for the long haul. It might be an idea to tell him his £40 a week tenancy will end in the new year so he needs to look for a house share or bedsit now.

She's sent him the papers and he's signed them. Sister has told him wants him gone but he's adamant he's nowhere to go, saying no priority with the council and can't find anywhere private rent that will accept housing benefit. He's emotionally blackmailing her saying he will go sleep in the woods and other such crap, but am I right in thinking he shouldn't have just walked out of the house in the first place and made himself homeless, although I can appreciate in these sort of circumstances it must be difficult to continue living under the same roof as. ex wife

he shouldn't have just walked out of the house in the first place

God knows what's gone on. If he hasn't worked and his children are adults, his wife's thrown him out, he's just looking for another sap to fund his dossy lifestyle. That's your sister.

It only costs a couple of pounds to get a copy of the title from the Land Registry.

Yes I think the wife's finally had enough and rightly so actually in my opinion, the guys a total waster. I've told my sister she needs to give him a date to be out by and stick to it but I think she's worried about potentially putting him on the street. But what's the alternative as pp said this could be a long haul till house sorted and in the meantime hrs just affecting her mental health.

As others have said, the starting point is that he will receive 50% of the assets of the marriage on divorce. That includes the equity in the house, pensions and all other assets, and applies even if the house is owned outright by his wife.

Assuming he is capable of getting a job, his wife has enabled his lifestyle for years and, as another poster says, he is just looking for someone else to fund his lifestyle. Throwing him out may be the shock he needs to get him to stop relying on others to provide for him.

She needs to get tough. Put him out. Let him sleep in the woods (he won’t)
Time for him to start supporting himself

Single unemployed men are very low down the housing priority lists, so he may well be unable to find accommodation.
I can see why his daughter wouldn't want to make him leave her home given this.
On top of which he is an alcoholic.

His financial situation re the divorce is something he & his ex-wife need to resolve. Presumably he could move back into the marital home for the moment if he has part ownership - which he could easily establish with a land registry search if he doesn't actually know.

Your sister is in a very difficult situation, it is all well and good saying throw him out, but it must be very hard to actually do this to your parent.

Thanks for all your replies, I've spoke to her this morning and his latest plan is to wait until the money from the divorce comes through, buy a camper van to live in amd go to her house for showers and to do washing. He has currently the 350 a month from wife, money from benefits and after paying sister 40 a week he won't spend anything apart from buying alcohol. He is going to food banks ( but thee is no need for this as food in house). Sister has asked him to accompany her and her adult daughter for a meal out on Xmas day but he's refusing to pay and says he is going to the homeless shelter and for a meal! which I'm not happy about because I volunteer at the homeless
shelter on Xmas day and I don't think it's fair he's taking a meal when he's not bloody homeless and has money. I know it must be difficult to lick out a parent but it seems to me he wants to live some sort of homeless lifestyle so I would be tempted to tell him to get on with it.

Kick out not lick out, jesus christ " I know it must be difficult to lick out a parent" 🤦‍♀️😂😂

I've worked in homeless shelters and our philosophy is that if someone asks for a meal, they get a meal, no judgement. It's difficult because you know he's a user. But so will many other people be who have more.

The whole 'camper van homelessness' thing, she will need boundaries. No laundry, no showers. He makes his bed, he lies in it. I think he's probably trained her to have no boundaries so this is hard.