Mesher Orders - does anyone have any experience please?

[KrispyKreme]

H & I are in the process of separating and he is determined to go for a 50-50 split of the equity in our home. We don;t have much else in the way of assets and 50% will not be enough for me to buy a new house.

I can afford a small mortgage but I think our mediator is suggesting the possibility of making up the shortfall with some kind of mesher order.

Does anyone know if this can be applied to a new home rather than the matrimonial home (I can;t afford to stay in it) and is it a good idea?

H wants to stay in the matrimonial home and increase his mortgage - that's up to him, of course.

My earning capacity is low atm as I only work p/t but when DS is older I would be planning to work f/t and the amount of the order would probably not be impossible to repay (given that by that stage I should have paid off original small mortgage and could remortgage if necessary).

I wouldn't be expecting to pay the order back to H on inflation / house price increase alone.

Anyone?

Hi KK,
absolutely no reason why a Mesher Order cannot be on a new home as opposed to the FMH.
Does your DH have a solicitor? It appears that he is being unrealistic about the finances, in particular as 50/50 on the equity as if you are on a low income and will be caring for DS it is pretty obvious that you will almost certainly need more than 50% of the equity to re-house yourself and DS.

In these circumstances, a Mesher Order is appropriate with the 'usual' triggers, ie your voluntary sale of the property (or paying him off early if able to if your financial situation improves, DS reaching 16/17/ceasing full time education (whichever agreed), your death (has to go in there) or your marriage (some Judges will include cohabitation but some won't, it varies in different courts)

Hopefully your DH will be sensible/realistic about it all. Good luck

If you google Mesher orders, there is quite a lot of legal information although get proper legal advice as well obviously.
I think that the terms of Mesher orders can be quite flexible and you could negotiate that the order is transferable to a new property eg, you apply it to the mat home but say that the same shares can be applied to a new home that you wish to buy.
As your DH wishes to remain in the mat home could he not buy you out? As you have the child and are in a weaker position financially, you would be likely to get more than 50% of the equity.
Otherwise, you could stay in the mat home with a Mesher Order in agreed percentages attached to it, if this is affordable between the two of you ie the mortgage gets paid and he can afford to live somewhere else.

Thanks mofs and cranberrie.

I would like to end up with more than 50% but there are some background circumstances which mean H is not inclined to be reasonable, firstly because it was my decision to end the marriage (relationship had completely broken down, mind you) and also H has been divorced before.

He wants to buy me out, cranberrie, but can only afford to do so up to a point. If I was to end up with, say, 70% of the equity he probably couldn;t afford the additional mortgage.

KK,just because you decided to end the marriage doesn't mean that you will not get what is fair and reasonable with regards to the finances. Who did what to whom and when very rarely has a bearing on the financial outcome and it is only in vary rare cases that 'conduct' is taken into account.

He is clearly bitter/pissed off and obviously having been through it before doesn't want to get less than he feels he should but that doesn't change the way the Courts look at the division of the matrimonial assets.