Divorce - husband will sign over house to me in exchange for money. Advice please.

[butterandcrumpets]

Dh wants to separate from me and is happy for me to have the house in exchange for £10000, the amount his dm had put in to help us out with the deposit. I can afford the mortgage on my own and would like to stay in the house, but am wondering how best to raise the money? Would I be able to release some of the equity of the house or put it on to the mortgage? I have some savings but not enough. Am fairly clueless about all things mortgage related.

Does anyone have any advice or knows about the options available? Thank you.

If you have a decent tps pension, and he has none, then you could well end up paying him more. I think he may be getting a raw deal here.

How much equity is there in the house?
How much is your pension worth? (Can easily be worth tens of thousands if not more)
What other assets have you both got?
Divide by 2 and what do you get?
Assuming you keep the pension - you might end up paying him a lot more to have a normal 5050 split. Seems unfair when you are the bigger contributor!

On the other hand, what's the value of your house like compared to what you bought it for and do you have equity? If you have a lot of negative equity then you might be getting a raw deal.

This is his money not his mums - she gave it as a gift. I suspect she'd just want him to have at least enough to start again

Make sure his name is taken off the mortgage and he has renounced his entitlement to the house or anything else.

There are lots of websites where you put in the postcode and it tells you how much houses have sold for in that area.

Www.mouseprice.com

I'd only pay up if he has been contributing a fair amount to household expenses
Would you say the same if the genders were reversed?
The house if jointly owned so he is probably entitled to half the equity. Returning the £10k he brought to the purchase (via his mother), seems like a very reasonable way to achieve a clean break.

If the situation were precisely reversed, yes, I would give much the same advice.

If he was the earner, had a kid, had paid 80% of the house a year ago and she/they had got £10K from her mum then I would be saying to him:

a) to get legal advice before proceeding
b) it is possible that the 10K is non recoverable
c) to be sure that the mortgage and deeds can be changed
d) if all that is fine make sure you get a 'clean break' resolution... you have a child she does not!

The previous rental is of no concern.. they both inhabited the house, they were not married. Whatever agreement they had for that is over.

The purchase of the house and the short term of marriage is all there is to work out.

Easiest resolution is to pay back the £10K and walk away - no matter what gender you are.

I would be telling the other half that retrieving the £10K their mum put in would probably be a good win, too!

Sorry Anecdotal I left of a starting sentence: yes I would but, like you, would be saying ... and then on.... as it stands my last post looks like I am actually disagreeing with you !!

Wow thanks everyone. To be clear, my question was not so much whether the 10k are reasonable or not. I think they are. I was more interested in how best to raise them. I have always paid slightly more into the house than him although he has carried other bills (AA membership etc). The 10k and clean break were his suggestion; he sees his 10k as having been wasted on the house.

I had a chat with the wife of a colleague who works in the field and she said on the basis of the short duration of marriage a court might not see him as dependable on my income/pension etc. I doubt he would agree to spousal maintenance etc as part of why he wants out is the whole wanting to go it alone thing. I have offererd him the box room as storage for his things until he finds and can afford a place big enough and he declined. He wants to sell his stuff to cut ties.

Also, I doubt that splitting equity 50:50 would get him 10k, taking solicitors and estage agent fees into account. We have only owned the place for a year and the house isn't in the best of conditions; perfectly liveable but decor, kitchen etc quite outdated. The plan was to do it up bit by bit.

I'll look into the mortgage and see what can be done. If it isn't enough I might consider a loan.

So he paid £10K at the start. Has he paid any of the mortgage since? If not, he's had a year there rent-free, hasn't he? And the AA bill is hardly huge, is it? Who paid the other bills?

OP has already stated that she feels it's reasonable which it is the question is what to do now. Firstly you do need a solicitor and more you need to contact your mortgage company and ask about increasing the mortgage (though I would use savings first) and taking soon to be exh off the mortgage. If your earnings can support the mortgage this shouldn't be too much of a problem but I would collate all information, wage slips etc for last four months and any other paperwork mortgage company asked for when you bought last year. If you have saving use those first as increasing the mortgage will increase the repayments. Bear in mind if you are on a mortgage deal (two year fixed etc) you may have to pay further charges and it might be worth asking stbexh to wit til the end of the deal. Personally I'd beg and borrow the ten grand before increasing the mortgage and settle asap. Have you agreed maintenance? I would want this agreed as well even if it's minimal. I would probably agree regular contact hours as well including school pickups holidays Christmas etc just do everything in one go and then you should be able to resolve this in one meeting with a solicitor as you've both agreed. Please ignore anyone telling you he's lived rent free etc etc all that shit is unnecessary when you've agreed on a simple financial split and will just cause bad feeling and expensive solicitors bills. Always agree amicably if you can.

Oops just seen no children tho that makes it even easier.

If you can't fund it through extending the mortgage I would be reluctant to take out a loan.

Unfortunately it may be a case of selling up or asking him to wait 12 months or similar.

Could you move a lodger in to reduce your share of the bills and help you save?

You could put it on a 0% cc and set up s standing order each month so it paid off quicker?
Remortgaging it as easy at it once was!