Short marriage and house sale: should legal fees and equity be ringfenced in equity split?

[Honorlee]

I am in the process of separating from my husband, we have not yet been married a year.

We bought a house 18 months ago

He sold his property and put in a lump sum which was equity from his property.

His parents also gifted him some money (signed off as a gift legally) however he later asked me to help pay this back, but we never paid them anything.

I gave up a council tenancy and paid all the legal fees and stamp duty out of my savings.

He did not put his equity into a deed of trust and we then got married.

We have put our house up for sale and it only got valued £15k above what we paid for it. we have paid £12k off the mortgage

He always asked if his equity from previous house sale would be ringfenced and I agreed. The money his parents gifted can’t be paid back as I will end up with absolutely zero.

He proposed he takes his original equity, we then split the rest 50/50 paying equal fees (EA and legal). This could still leave me with virtually nothing at all at the end if the house doesn’t sell for top value

I have no spare money to pay a solicitor, and my ‘share’ could be so low I can’t even break even.

I’ve asked if my smaller contribution to the SDLT and the legal fees could also be ringfenced because his equity will be, and he said legally, it’s all in the same pot as a short marriage with regards to costs

He has 50/50 dependants (kids half time) and I do not, so he would get priority for housing, but not at my total expense?

I understand in short marriage all parties should be put back to their original position but this agreement leaves me with less than I contributed!

I’ve refused to sign any documents and asked him to consider ringfencing my original amount, and also ringfencing his, then splitting the rest after fees.

He said he’s had legal advice that my contribution was just ‘costs’ and not relevant to be ringfenced.

All I can see online is that I think as he would be getting the lions share, it’s not unreasonable that a court would order at least putting me back to my original position for the fees/costs then splitting the rest

Please can anyone give any advice on this?

Have you actually paid £12k off the mortgage or only paid it for the mortgage? I.e interest payments? Would be unusual to have paid anything off in such a short time.
Sounds as though nothing was ring fenced so up for debate and legal costs could suck up all that potential equity if you can’t agree so that comes down to what’s morally ‘right’.

As a neutral person I would say that in a short marriage this should be a simple sum of everything you both put in including your contribution to ‘costs’. So you put in 20. He put in 40. He gets 2/3 of any final sum after house is sold and selling expenses covered. very unfair to think he should get all his money back but you get nothing.

With prices falling in many areas you are right to think the valuation price may not be the selling price. Living somewhere for such a short time will have cost you (both) a lot of money due to SD and moving costs. Sucks that you gave up social housing too. Sounds difficult.

Legal costs would leave you b even worse off. You could try ChatGPT to see what a court is likely to award in this case - particularly as he has DC. If it is less or equal than he is offering (likely if he has considered s solicit or) just go with that.
It is unfortunate but if there isn’t enough in the pot then of course you lose money but sometimes mistakes do cost and you have to accept that.

Is his contribution legally ringfenced? How long have you been together - not just married?

His contribution may wellresult in him getting more than you after such a small marriage. You both need legal advice but this can get expensive.

I'd be negotiating with your ex on a human to human level and ignore 'legal' arguments. Because legally speaking, based on your original post, it doesn't sound like you have to agree to ringfence his deposit. So tell him you want 50/50 of all of it or just exactly what you asked for - to be put right.

If he was the reason for the split - even more justification. Do you have your own solicitor? Why would someone else's kids impact your contractual / legal ownership of the house. It's a contract, isn't it? If you jointly own the house and nothing legally ringfenced... I think he needs to just return your money and quickly. At least he was gifted money from his parents so technically, he will indeed get his equity back - that gift wasn't his own money so you taking a little of 'his' is no different to him taking a little of his parents'.

Also, don't divorce or move out / sell etc. until he agrees to what you want.

Yes we have paid £12k off, that’s not the interest it’s capital.

Nothing is ringfenced, he would have to take me to court to enforce it - he would certainly win his original deposit back because of the short marriage but it would cost him legal fees.

I am open to negotiating but he isn’t. So should I just let him take me to court over it? I have a trail I have asked for a small ringfenced amount which is far, far less than his share - I agreed to preserve his premarital contribution but he won’t do the same for me which I think makes him look unreasonable.

In terms of figures it’s like he will get £50k+ and I will get £5k, It’s that big of a difference.

I’m really confused, you paid legal fees/stamp duty so around £5k and you’re expecting that back? And he paid a lot more in and is expecting a lot more back, including repaying his parents (because you all lied to the lenders about this “gift”)? What’s the issue here? Divorce isn’t supposed to leave you with a profit. They’re generally a loss for everyone involved so just breaking even is good. It sounds like you couldn’t afford a house by yourself before you got together and you still can’t. And yes, divorces cost money.

Well I guess your contribution was used for the costs but there was no reason why you couldn’t have given your contribution as part of the deposit and he used part of his input towards the costs and the rest towards the deposit - ie between you you had a pot of money that was used in the house purchase and so you should get back in proportion to what you both put in and it just so happened that one bit came from your bank and the other bit came from his

I put in more than £5k

But £5k is what I am likely to get back under his proposal.

his parents gifted the money but he wishes to repay them of his own choice

he put in £50k - no issue with him having that back even though he never put it into a deed of trust

however he wants to ringfence £50k for himself and refuses to ringfence my original investment/costs at the same time

So he’s asking to get his money back then share 50% of the rest of the equity (minus 50/50 of the fees each)

I am asking that we BOTH get our original money back, then share the rest of the equity 50/50 (and pay fees from this pot)

this would restore us both to our original positions

he’s asking me to give up my investment into the property - he might not pay his parents back, he could keep it and just use it as a deposit on his next house. It was a gift

I’m not asking to profit I’m asking for the same consideration he is asking for

I paid in £10k from my own savings so I want that back as a very minimum

I gave up a council tenancy to move in with him but I can get a small mortgage or shared ownership house, I earn the same as him. It’s just that our outgoings are so high in this house I can’t save any money from my salary

His parents didn’t ask for the money he wants to pay them back. They signed it as a gift so it was them who lied I assume

If they’ve not asked for it back, then they’ve not lied. I think you’d be wise to arrange a visit to a solicitor dealing in divorce before agreeing to anything.

Did they say the gift was to him or both of you? If it wasn’t specific, then did the money go to his account or a joint account? If the money was gifted to him, then it is his money.

You would probably need qualified legal advice to determine which laws take precedence here. I suspect it’s marriage and divorce. Potentially that then means you are put back to your pre marital position which would be when you began living together. At this point you would have had X savings and he would have Y savings. The purchase of the house came at a joint cost, including taxes and fees.

Assuming there is enough when you sell and deduct fees, you should get X and Y back. If there is any left over split it 50/50.

I understand you would be better off if you had stayed in the council house. He would probably be better off as well if he invested that money. Life isn’t cost free.

To add, I doubt your will realise the valuation price for the property. It may sell for less than what you paid.

It would depend what his parents paid and what you paid in cost. I think his equity should be ringfenced and the money his parents paid and the legal fees and stamp duty you paid. What is left if anything should be split 50/50.

Such a shame you gave up a council tenancy. Were you together long ?

unusual for you to pay all legal fees and he just put in a lump sum (yes he’s was silly not to ring fence it) but you say you don’t want to split that

fees you won’t get back. Thats just house stuff

but any profit should be split 50/50 and same with any selling fees etc

was such a short marriage - is there def no chance on sorting stuff out

I get marriages go wrong , im
divorced but less than a year seems very quick it all went wrong

How much total did you pay in costs? And were you paying any mortgage or bills?

Also how long pre marriage were you together?

Op you need to speak to a solictor to find out the position your in.

I’d speak to a lawyer to understand your legal position. One session would more than pay for itself as you could lose thousands you are entitled to. Subject to lawyers advice, I’d be tempted to tell him you should both get your money back then split what is left (as you propose) and if he doesn’t like it, you will take the 50% you are legally entitled to as the co-owner and he can give his half to the lawyers as he attempts to retrieve your half in the courts.

Thanks. I got legal advice. The starting point is 50/50. If you marry someone and don’t have a deed of trust only a court can legally allocate % of funds to each person if you can’t agree in mediation and won’t agree on a consent order, so you have to allow the court to decide based on evidence and housing needs.

So yes, the is a case in law specifically for short marriages (to weed out gold diggers) to go back to the original positions, but once you marry it’s legally automatically 50/50 marital assets if you both on the deeds and mortgage

She thought I was being more than reasonable asking for a small ringfenced amount whilst completely agreeing for him to keep his ringfenced amount and he was legally incorrect to try to do this

Costs of legal fees do count, they are contributions the same as a deposit. They are all in the same pot. I used my savings to do it. It’s not relevant which bit was allocated to which part of the purchase, he could not have bought the house without the stamp duty being paid

The gift was a gift and if they challenged it they would have to admit they lied. He didn’t ringfence this either

I asked him to do a deed of trust when we got the mortgage and he didn’t want to pay extra to do it!

i have NO intention of taking his ringfenced amount but technically I am entitled to half of it, and he would have to take me to court to get an order to state otherwise

she said just stand my ground over asking for my own ringfenced portion of equity based on what I added from savings and agree to share any that’s left over. Not to sign anything and get mediation. She said I have more leverage over him as no separation agreement, we can’t divorce and we also lived together before divorce which will be taken into account if it goes to court. It will cost him £ to go to court so I assume he will have to concede if I am patient and stick it out

TLDR: I just want my own money back.

6 years and he was a total arse to me over a period of a couple of months after we got married. I think he was depressed and didn’t get any help and took it all out on me.

Then when I stood up for myself and told him how difficult he was being, he got even worse and had some kind of mental breakdown.

I initially didn’t leave him I tried to work things out but he can’t handle any criticism. So much has been said now and his behaviour still isn’t great so I don’t know how we can go back.

I suspect his lawyer is ChatGPT

Sorry to hear that

Can you give more numbers as I’m struggling with your maths.

If he gets his full deposit back, then there should be £27k to share between you (the £15k growth and the £12k paid off the mortgage). For you to come out with only £5k, there would need to be £17k legal and estate agent costs which seems like a lot unless it’s a very expensive house…

If the house sells for less (what we paid) then that wipes off £15k off the equity straight away, leaving a lot less then fees etc. best case scenario is £27k, minus fees, then split in half

it is a fairly expensive house.

say fees/ea is £8k ish

so I could get between £10k and barely anything

How much equity is there in the house?