How much is BIL entitled to?

[legalquery]

Name changing regular here - We are in a rather odd situation. DH?s sister is getting divorced and has 3 young boys (youngest is 3) under 18 to support.

She is living in the house she and her DH bought some time ago. Despite their imminent divorce he has insisted he has a right to live there too as he owns half. It is a tiny house so this is a nightmare situation for SIL.

He is working full time and because of the young children she can only work part time.

The options as we understand them at the moment are that she buys out his share or waits till the children are 18 and then pays him off.

She is keen to pay him off now. For two reasons. He won?t be able to afford to live anywhere else decent unless she does ? and she does want the DS?s to be able to stay with him and enjoy time with their father. Also because she doesn?t want him to have any hold on her?and the joint ownership will obviously cause this.

She cannot afford to buy him out so we are going to borrow the money and pay the repayments until she is back at work and able to afford the repayments herself.

However she just mentioned that she has worked up rather a substantial solicitors fee and wants to add this to the loan amount.

I have two queries really ? I don?t want to address them with SIL until I know what is correct.

1. If she is buying out her DH ? should it be 50/50 or should it be based on a lower amount. As she cannot afford it and we are actually the ones paying how should it be worked out?

1. Is she really liable for the entire solicitors fee or should he be contributing towards that as well.

I am concerned that it is all being worked out not on what she can afford (which I think is the correct way it should be done) ? and the fact that we are helping is being used by him to bump up the share he gets ? which perhaps isn?t rightfully his!

Hope this all makes sense. I?m in and out of meetings most of today so if you are kind enough to post some advice please don?t think I?m ignoring it!

I would seek proper legal advise and be very, very careful with this.

portofino - thanks for posting. SIL is getting legal advice but I would like to get some insight.

I realise we are in a relatively precarious position with this but we are prepared to accept that we may have to pay off the full amount in a worse case scenerio (that SIL can't afford to take up her share of the payments in future).

In the spirit of not being proper legal advice...

How the house should be split depends on a range of factors. It is one of the assets to be taken into account in negotiating the financial settlement. Without knowing what other assets they have (all assets, not just the ones owned jointly), how long they've been married and a whole load of other factors it is difficult to be sure. A 50/50 split is a good starting point but it may not be correct. Of course, she may have to pay him more than he is strictly entitled to in order to get this settled without running up a huge bill.

In a divorce it is usually the case that each side bears its own legal costs. So yes, it is likely that she is liable for the whole of her solicitor's fees.

I see you SIL is getting proper legal advice - but I meant YOU. It sounds like you are prepared to borrow a large sum of money to help her out. This is what you should be seeking advice about.

What sort of sum are we talking? The amount of a couple of years of mortgage repayments? What if she can't/won't pay it back in the future? Should you have a charge on the property etc etc?

thank you both.

It will be over a 10 year period but is a sum that we have accepted that if the worse comes to the worse we can afford outright. We are not expecting any claim to the property - it is a gift. My DH feels strongly that he needs to help - and as we have financially helped members of my family it does seem only fair.

I was just getting a bit frustrated about the amounts that she is racking up for legal advice and am confused why she is liable for that (as she earns a very small amount compared to him) but hearing that it is normal for each side to pay their own legal bills is helpful. I just assumed it should be paid by the higher earner.