equity in the house?

[norksinmywaistband]

Hoping someone can give me a heads up on what a solicitor is likely to say to my ex next week.
Before you say it, I have made an appointment but not for 2 weeks so I thought I would ask the wisdom that is MN

I currently live in a 3 bedroom house with DC age 3&4.
We have a 25year mortgage(extend 6 months ago from 13 to make the payments easier after ExH left and rented a flat) for£65,000. The house is worth in the region of 180,000-200,000.

How much equity has he got in the house, i'm sure its not the simple maths that he has worked out, saying he probably has about60-70K

TIA

Hi, if I read you right, your house is worth 200,000 minus the 65,000 mortgage = 135,000 (equity). Then divide 135,000 by 2 = 65,000ish. So yes he has got that much equity. There are 2 things that you can do. He can either keep paying half the mortgage until the children are 18, then you can sell the house and he will be entitled to half the profit. Or you can buy him out by giving him his equity share and take over the whole mortgage. Hope that helps.

Thanks, that does clarify things but as I am on IS I would not get a mortgage, so I guess he will have to wait it out

Serves him right then! The only other problem you may have is whether your house is too big for you and the children - he may say you have to sell it and get something smaller - he would still have to support you though. You say its a 3 bedroom house and you've got 2 children so you should be okay, especially if you've one of each sex so they couldn't share.

He will have to pay you a % of his income - I think its about 10-15%, not sure if thats for each child or in total, so if he's on a decent wage you should be okay.

If you're working and paying for childcare you'll also be entitled to working tax credit and child tax credit, so get on to them as soon as possible. Plus you'll qualify for 25% reduction in council tax if you're the only adult in the house.

Good luck, let me know if I can help with anything else although its been 5 years since I went through it.

Thanks, I do have one of each
Am not working atm, but will probably do so when DC are both at school, that means I will ahve to rely on benefits and child support for a bit