DP buying EXH out of house, advice needed

[baffledpuzzledandconfused]

This is frying my brain, I hope someone can sanity check it for me. Sorry it's so long!

EXH and I split a few years ago. We owned a house together. He moved out (at my request) and I've paid the mortgage since.

He is renting and wants his share of the house equity.

Ideally I would like to stay in the house until dc finish primary school.

I can't afford to buy him out and tbh paying everything since is quite tough.

House is on the market but hasn't sold yet.

I met DP a couple of years ago and we're planning for him to move in. If this goes well we have talked about him buying EXH out of the house.

EXH and I are not fully divorced yet, as the consent order is dragging on.

I can't work out how much DP would need to pay EXH.

House equity is about 50% of the value.

I agreed to take 40% of marital assets to preserve his pension which is worth 150k. He also paid quite a bit of the deposit but didn't ring fence it which is why I agreed to lower amount.

The house is worth £300,000 and the mortgage is £150,000

I think that the divorce and house transfer are 2 separate transactions but probably need to happen simultaneously.

Assets of marriage are £300k (150 equity +150 pension)

EXH gets 60% ie £180k but £150k of that is his pension.
I get 40% which is £120k

So does DP give EXH his £30k, and me £45k, then we get a joint mortgage for £150k together?

DP does have access to the funds and also a very small property of his own that he will rent out.
We would like to get married eventually.
I need to ringfence my assets for dc.

Any advice would really be appreciated

Surely if he is retaining his full pension, you should be claiming a significantly greater share of the house equity to compensate for the imbalance? Have you taken legal advice?

Have you had legal advice on this proposed financial split? It seems unusual, at face value, that he is getting 60%, unless he has the children the majority of the time? Do you work? Have a pension? I wouldn't be agreeing to this without a solicitor checking it is fair. That is before you even get into the complications of your DP buying into the house- which seems to put you and your children's housing security in a vulnerable state.

Thanks for the replies.
Anything that is mine will be ring fenced for dc.

EXH would only get a small amount from the house as he's keeping his pension. He's put about 50k more than me into the house but I counteracted that with loss of earnings on mat leave and working less hours to take care of them.

You're right I do need a solicitor. I was waiting til I got the consent order before taking it to one

If you marry your DP then you simply cannot ringfence your assets for your children.

Please take proper legal advice on both the divorce settlement and the potential consequences of marrying again.

Dc future is stable. They love DP and have said they prefer him to EXH a few times (unprompted). No move is made without their agreement. When i said DP may move in, the first reaction from them was Yayy!
DP treats dc as his own, but he doesn't have any. He has several elderly relatives that he is sole benefactor for

I work full time and earn more than EXH but have much less pension

Thank you. I did not know that!
Nothing will happen without legal advice

"You're right I do need a solicitor. I was waiting til I got the consent order before taking it to one"

You need to take advice before the consent order, the consent order is the final order that is legally binding.

It's still not clear why your ex would get 60 %; his desire to ring fence his pension doesn't mean it's* what should happen. You might choose to* agree to offset taking pension by taking more of the house equity- but settling on only 40% of the total pot, when there are children involved? Seems unusual. Take advice ASAP

Are you getting confused with your terminology OP? Assuming you applied for the divorce after April 2022, but more than 20 weeks ago, and are in England or Wales, then you'll have a Conditional Order. You cannot get a Final Order without a consent/financial order. Well, you can, but if there are significant assets, it's not advised.

You say the consent order is dragging on, but it sounds like you haven't agreed the split of assets or submitted Form E to the courts. Or are you unable to agree on the split of assets, and submitted form A to the courts to request the court to decide (if mediation fails)?

Or do you mean you're waiting for the Conditional Order before getting a solicitor to finalise the assets? And the CO is taking more than 20 weeks (it shouldn't do, it's an automatic process after your divorce application was accepted to the courts).

You don't need to wait for the Conditional Order to get the Consent Order negotiated and drawn up. In fact, if you have it ready to submit as soon as the Conditional order is confirmed, you can apply straight away for a Final Order.

The transfer of equity can be separate to the divorce BUT the deeds on the house need to match the mortgage. To get exH share of the house to transfer to DP, you'd also need a new mortgage without exH on and with you and DP on. Only those named on the mortgage should have a claim on the property. And as you'll be doing this without being married, get your conveyancing solicitor to draw up a tenants in common agreement. This also means if you were to die, your share does not automatically pass to DP (marriage changes tenants in common to joint tenants). You don't need the same solicitor for conveyancing and divorce.

Thank you.
EXH solicitor is drawing up the consent order based on my calculations allegedly. I haven't seen it and have been waiting for over a year.
We got the consent order about 8 months ago.

He decided to set the wheels in motion for the divorce. I could do it myself because it's dragged on so long.

Sorry I meant the conditional order was granted 18 months ago. I still haven't seen the consent order so we can't apply for the final order.

I can apply for the final order because it should have been done a year ago.
I have wondered about getting my solicitor to do it but then we're effectively paying twice.

When I ask EXH about it, I never get a straight answer. I suspect without me to explain things to him, he is struggling to comprehend.

1. Make sure this is part of the legal financial settlement before money changes hands

1. You need to own with DP as tenants in common. So you can leave your share to kids ... you could give e him right to live there until death if appropriate

Incorrect. If you buy as tenants on common(not joint tenants) you can leave your % of house to whoever you wish.

OP, if you've been paying the mortgage alone for the past few years since the split, don't forget to take that into account in your figures. I'd take a legal advice urgently because I don't think your proposed split is fair to you.

Agree, but I assumed she meant that a future husband wouldn’t be able to claim it in a divorce. If you have assets that you want to keep secure for your children then you shouldn’t marry again, as you could lose part of them in a divorce.

@BilboBlaggin OP, if you've been paying the mortgage alone for the past few years since the split, don't forget to take that into account in your figures. I'd take a legal advice urgently because I don't think your proposed split is fair to you.
It will have cost him far more in rent during this time which should also be accounted for.

His rent is about half the mortgage so he's no worse off. He's also paying utilities on a 2 bed flat, not a 4 bed house.