Married but not on mortgage.

[nevereveragain2]

DH put in the deposit as i had no savings from previously being a single parent. we got married then he . i am part of a DMP & credit is getting built back up. i work part time and pay money to him towards household expenses and i pay all the childcare bill of £900 a month. i dont have any bills in my name as he said it could affect the future?
he works full time and pays the mortgage and rest of bills. we share dc together. i'm just checking i'm protected in the event of a divorce? as im clueless in matters like this and cant afford to see a solicitor
TIA

Our house deeds and mortgage are all in my name as I bought the house before marriage but as I understand it, once we got married it became a joint asset anyway. (I was okay with that, else I just wouldn't have got married). We intend to change it but it was going to cost a fortunate to do during the mortgage term and then when we remortgaged it was more favourable not to add my DH as he is self-employed. Next time around we'll probably do it.

I love it when people post completing incorrect ‘facts’ with such confidence 🙄

It's a good idea for household bills eg energy and water to be in joint names so that you can both contact them about any problems. Also it's good for your credit rating to show bills paid regularly . Can you tell DH that and ask him to change them? If he says no, get him to say exactly why.

I would worry about his motives. When DH and first married I had sold my flat and moved in with him. When we sold his flat, even though my name wasn’t on any of the paperwork I still have to sign paperwork to say I agreed to the sale.

When we sold his flat, even though my name wasn’t on any of the paperwork I still have to sign paperwork to say I agreed to the sale.

Same situation when I divorced. Moved into his house, when it was sold had to agree to the sale despite not being on the mortgage.

Definitely speak to a lawyer. Maybe more than once. The law and property ownership are not straightforward. I inherited my parents house and sold it without any deeds. This is because what we call deeds are just legal proof that you own something.
I was fortunately in that my mother's lawyers had an agricultural division who were used to dealing with property owned by people who couldnt prove it.
I was amazed by all this, especially as I had successfully bought and sold properties of my own before this happened. I always tell people about this as a warning, check legal stuff about property dont assume.

you paid stamp duty on the purchase of the second house because it wasn’t your main residence

What country do you live in?

If this is the reason, then it should have been clearly explained to the OP so she knew the reasons, and wasn't left feeling like she'd been hung out to dry.

I read the original post as the DH bought a house and then they got married. In which case, the house is a pre-marital asset and the OP isn't automatically entitled to part of it if they divorced.

Please feel free to share you own interpretation rather than just rolling your eyes at other people's responses.

It doesn't matter if it was purchased pre marriage by only one party, IF it's the marital home. The marital home is always a joint asset, regardless of who owned it before the marriage. In Scotland anyway, and Google says the same is true in the other UK countries. Of course, OP may be living in Germany (she doesn't say).

Isn't everything marital assets? But would still be good if she was on the land registry easy to check on line if she doesn't know.

That makes no odds in a longer marriage anyway.
All assets go in a pot to be divided.

Really? I need to look into this more, as I was led to believe my house would not automatically be a shared asset.
Seems a little unfair that if I marry DP, he'll benefit more from a divorce than from my death.

my DH isn’t on the deeds or mortgage, but the house would be considered a marital asset if we were to divorce. He did have to sign a document to essentially agree that the mortgage provider gets first dibs if it needed to be sold to recover their debt.

i would however definitely advise being added as a second named person on all utilities in case there’s a problem and you are better placed to deal with.

is there a will? Because the one aspect I never considered (because it wouldn’t enter my head to do this) is whether it is possible for him to leave the house to someone else on his death? I’m guessing it’s legally possible and I suppose you could challenge it via the courts but I imagine it’s not easy.

If you are married and this is the family home you should be protected in England unless he owned a significant chunk of the house prior to the marriage and it’s a short marriage. Normally marital assets are divided equally on a split. Being on the deeds is what you need, (although usually family law will kick in even if you aren’t on the deeds), not being on the mortgage. Might even be good to stay off the mortgage as then you aren’t liable for the debt. But check with a lawyer.

Not true as they are married.

I think your looking for problems that aren’t there it’s a martial asset so you have rights to irrespective to who’s names on what

as people pointed out if it was a short marriage then you wouldn’t have a claim but even if you were in the mortgage and deeds for a short term marriage the courts try to put you back in the position you enter the marriage so chances are DH would get his deposit back anyway

we were in this position and the reason we never changed it as it made no difference to who was entitled to what and because I already had a mortgage when we moved it was extremely simple literally sign here and mortgage transferred where as adding some it would be a new application

I agree - it's mental that theoretically my DH (who is solely on the deeds of our house) could theoretically write a new will without me knowing, leave the house to the donkey sanctuary, then die and leave me and the kids homeless! But if we divorce I get half. Make it make sense!

@Pachycephalosaurus You can contest a will written like that. It’s assumed no sane married person would write a will excluding spouse and dc and, if you thought that was the case, get on with the divorce! It’s hardly what a dh in a loving marriage would do!

Well no, of course he wouldn't. But not all husbands (or wives!) are made equal. Very few people would divorce their slightly imperfect spouse on the off chance that they had a secret will and might die soon.

It's just odd that the law protects both spouses in a divorce scenario but not in a death scenario. Either the law believes that the marital home is joint property, or it doesn't. It shouldn't be different just because one spouse happens to die.

Do you earn similar? How many kids do you have in total?

Incorrect

Not being on the bills WILL affect YOUR future as there’s no credit rating etc. stop paying all the childcare and make sure your name is on the utility bills and mortgage

At the moment the OP's credit rating is shot as she is on a DMP & would probably not be able to become a joint mortgagee for that reason.

In addition as others have pointed out it may potentially have an impact on her Debt Management Plan or allow the creditors to potentially get hold of the house.

So I cant see it happening and potentially being very unwise of it does until such time as the Debt Management Plan has ended