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Original poster

Married but not on the mortgage ?

62 replies

Hideehi · 08/11/2006 21:23

If god forbid anything happened would i still get the usual 60/40 split ?

The situation is I have children from a first marriage and two more with new partner.
When we met I had £40k capital which has gone on clearing his debts, holidays and living expenses whilst i've not been working.
Now we're going to buy a house next spring and the deposit will come from him and he will pay the mortgage, I'll earn pin money for holidays etc.
Having been in this boat before i'm just checking i'm protected.
TIA

OP posts:
iota · 08/11/2006 21:24

make sure that the house is put in joint names

Quootiepie · 08/11/2006 21:33

if its bought as "joint tennants" and NOT "tennants in common" itll be a 50/50 split.

Blu · 08/11/2006 21:38

You don't have to be the person who earns the money to have the house jointly in your name.
Make sure you do!
Personally, because I am a suspicious grasping type, I would have the solicitor draw up a letter saying that your £40k has contributed to the household income, too!

mumblechum · 09/11/2006 13:21

Not sure where you get the idea there's a standard 60/40 split from - prob another urban myth.
Also, the tenants in common/joint tenants distinction is not relevant, as you're married. The only way it would be appropriate to buy as tenants in common is to mitigate your inheritance tax liability.

It's certainly advisable to get the house put into joint names, but even if you didn't, because you're married, if the worst happened, the court has jurisdiction to make pretty much whatever order it sees fit, so could transfer ownership to you outright if appropriate.

I recommend that you buy the house as joint tenants in equal shares.

beckybrastraps · 09/11/2006 13:23

I earn nothing and am on our mortgage. And I am a joint tenant.

indignatio · 09/11/2006 13:25

I earn nothing and the mortgage and house is in my name

NomDePlume · 09/11/2006 13:26

DH and I are married but I am not on the mortgage or the deeds to our house. I was told that it didn't matter whether I was or I wasn't by our solicitor, as being married and having kids took care of what my name being on the deeds had we not have been married would (IYSWIM?)

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 09/11/2006 13:28

NDP - I'm in the same position as you not on Mortgage or Deeds.

NomDePlume · 09/11/2006 13:29

I don't think it makes any difference at all in the event of a split if you are married.

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 09/11/2006 13:31

I was led to believe that the only thing that really could affect me was if DH didn't pay the mortgage then I'd have no right to remain in the house if it was repossessed (or something along those lines) - made sense at the time and not really too bothered - not sure whyI would demand to stay in a house that my DH had taken away from him - I'd rather go with him LOL.

NomDePlume · 09/11/2006 13:34

lol.

I couldn't afford to pay the mortgage on this place anyway if DH defaulted on the loan, so it doesn't matter a jot. I did have to sign a few forms at the solictor to the same effect (the I will leave if the house is repo'd in DH's name). In fact, I think that as his spouse, if he defaults on the loan then the mortgage compnay automatically have the right to tap me for the cash anyway...

morningpaper · 09/11/2006 13:39

get your name on the mortgage definitely

splitting property/earnings in this way is a bad idea on principle - he may see the house as "his" because "he" earned the money for it while you just earned "pin money"

make it clear that you have an equal partnership

iota · 09/11/2006 13:39

don't you girls feel a little peeved that you bought the house together as a married couple but it's not acknowledged as half yours? seems odd to me

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 09/11/2006 13:40

I could just afford to pay the mortgage - but I couldn't pay any of the other bills or feed us all.

I know I signed forms at the solicitors (well the first time was at a friends house as her DH was a solicitor and gave me the legal advice for free ) to similar effect as what you describe.

NomDePlume · 09/11/2006 13:41

We do have an equal partnership. Just because I am married and a SAHM does not mean we live in some kind of Victorian set-up where he is the man of the house and I am some grateful, childbearing skivvy.

NomDePlume · 09/11/2006 13:41

Iota, not remotely, no, but apparently I should

morningpaper · 09/11/2006 13:43

NDP I find it ODD

the biggest financial investment/responsibility that you will ever make, but you don't want to have your name on the papers? Why are you happy to defer responsibility for this to your husband?

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 09/11/2006 13:44

iota - not at all - he acknowledges quite openly that I now pay most of the bills except for the mortgage - I pay for the gas, water, electricity, phone, buildings and contents insurance etc etc. And if we were ever to split up my bank account details show quite clearly that I've been paying those bills out of my earnings and out of my bank account.

MP - we don't have any issues of him feeling the house is 'his' - it's our family home and when we first talked about buying a house (well him buying a house) he said that he wanted us to have a family home that was ours.

Mind you - on the plus side as I'm the one with the better credit rating now if we are in a position in a few years time to take our a small loan (10-20k) to purchase a home in Zimbabwe then it'll be in my name - so I'll "own" our retirement house

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 09/11/2006 13:46

infact this last month I worked 50 extra hours at work which meant that when he didn't get his bonus (as he was a few sales short) I was able to give him an extra £500 towards his share of the bills (no I don't earn £10 a hour - I gave him some of my 'spending' money to use).

oliveoil · 09/11/2006 13:46

what if he buggered off, would you and the children then have to clear out of the house?

I want my name on everything dammit

(my pet peeve is that when we got our mortgage and I was the high earner (back when I had a life), I was put down as second name and dh was the main one )

iota · 09/11/2006 13:47

well whatever you are happy with is fine by me didn't mean to sound as if I was telling you what to do.

I owned my own flat before I met and married dh and it stayed in my name ( as did all the bills) until we sold it, but we bought our new house together in joint names.

All the bills are in joint names apart from the phone bill which is still in my name as BT were a bit funny about joint names ( something to do with new subscribers IIRC)

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 09/11/2006 13:48

if he buggered off he could have all of his debts to pay for himself and then - with the extra tax credits I'd be entitled as I'm on less than 12k a year I'd be able to afford the bills. I'm currently paying a large % of my salary and other income paying off debts that are in his name.

NomDePlume · 09/11/2006 13:50

Because it makes feck all difference in the real world. Because if we spilt, the house (or profit from) will be split by the courts, because we are married. The fact that my name isn't on the deeds doesn't make it any the less my home. I signed some papers which said that DH couldn't just sell the house out from under me, we both have to give consent.

Quite honestly, it doesn't bother me in the slightest, and the legal advice taken at the point of purchase leads me to believe that I am not doing anything that puts me in danger of being made homeless if my DH decides to go on a homeowning power trip (!). If legally it makes jack all difference, and personally it makes jack difference (to me), then all I am doing is upsetting/confusing/irritating the uber-feminists, which hey, I can live with.

Bozza · 09/11/2006 13:52

I don't really get all this "his" and "my" that you use qoq. I am in agreement with oo/mp/iota. But olive I was the first name on our mortgage. Then went on maternity leave about 6 months later, followed by part time. We have everything joint except things like Isas, since we are both in the same tax bracket.

NomDePlume · 09/11/2006 13:52

Olive - If my DH fucked off and refused to pay the mortgage I'd have to leave anyway because I could not cover the £2k+ monthly mortgage !

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