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Original poster

Divorce settlement - charge on property

29 replies

foxalina · 09/08/2007 23:01

Has anyone recently been divorced and had a charge placed on their property by their ex that must be paid back at some time in the future?

OP posts:
MamaG · 09/08/2007 23:02

why? are you confused?

TheOriginalXENA · 09/08/2007 23:03

Nope but I know about them, whats up?

Original poster
foxalina · 09/08/2007 23:09

It looks like this is going to happen in my divorce settlement and I have not met anyone else who has had this placed on them.

Would be interested to know what stipulations about when this has to be paid back and what sort of percentages people have agreed to in their settlements as at present my ex is asking for a high percentage so he still gets 50% of the settlement when i need to house two children and myself.

OP posts:
TheOriginalXENA · 09/08/2007 23:20

I have known three cases.

  1. To be settled when the youngest was 18
  2. On sale of the house
  3. Only when the lady died (however they were older when the divorced.

I don't know if there was an amt or percentage on the first 2, the third was a set amt.

singledadofthree · 09/08/2007 23:35

have a charge against mine. only to be repaid when its sold. currently accrues at 8%.

also know a woman - she split and stayed in house with ds - she has to pay a set amount when ds is 18, earlier if she sells. expect amount to be a percentage of equity.

MamaG · 09/08/2007 23:37

depends on what is agreed

can be

When youngest child reaches 18 or leaves full time education (whichever later)

If person keeping house remarries or cohabits for more than 6 months

If person keeping house goes bankrupt

When house sold

MamaG · 09/08/2007 23:38

Usually a percentage of the net proceeds of sale (so after mortgage paid off etc)

its actually quite common

Original poster
foxalina · 10/08/2007 00:19

Thanks for your info.

OP posts:
HappyDaddy · 10/08/2007 12:20

foxalina, I had a charge placed on the marital home when I left as my ex refused to allow to have anything. I was happy for her to have the house, car and everything else, I just wanted her to pay something towards the joint debts I was also paying.

There are usually some standard triggers for paying up, re-mortgaging, re-marrying, if you die, if the house is sold, if you live with a new partner for more than 6 months. Mine was only 20% but she was much worse off when she had to pay it, 7 years later, through her refusal to be reasonable than if she'd sold the house at the outset.

mistressmiggins · 10/08/2007 17:09

50% sounds too high if you have 2 kids
usually 30/70 or 35/65

yes there are trigger points & when its reached, you have to give the amount agreed BUT while you have the house, they dont have to pay towards any of the repairs etc

if you can afford to buy him off, do.

I dont like the charge idea - I can see both sides BUT from my POV, I will always feel that my life decisions will be influenced by money
e.g me cohabit - after 6mths I will have to give ex his %

emotive subject for me at mo

Leilel · 10/08/2007 19:19

As a starting point, he would be entitled to his 'beneficial interest' in the house. (e.g. if you both owned 50% each and no mortgage he would be entitled to 50% as would you)

BUT (big but!!!) you NEED to get a good divorce lawyer, because you need to get the situation moved on from the his/yours beneficial interest scenario, which may see you having a large charge or being forced to sell.....

You need to strongly argue that your children deserve a place to live, there are so many things to consider which will shape the final outcome of the settlement. Everything is negotiable. It is so fluid.

Last divorce lawyer i spoke to (very recently) told me that the judge doesnt like to see one party come out of a long term marriage with nothing.

(from my POV that really pissed me off since my abusive H has used and abused me and the kids for years, especially financially, so as far as im concerned hes sucked the marriage dry financially for years, hes already had far more than his fair share of 'maritial assets'..FFS).

ONE very important point: remember that everything that has been bought since the marriage began, even if it was bought by one partner alone or even gifts received by just one of the couple...all of these are potentially up for grabs in the split. So if he has any valuable things he thinks of as his own, (car: for instance) you might be able to 'trade' your half share of them them against his share of the equity in the house, to get it smaller. Divorce lawyer told me to photograph everything. Photograph all 'his' valuable stuff, because its half yours.

If hes thinking of forcing a sale and therefor making you and DCs possibly homeless or in a precarious housing position, Thats just not a nice way for him to treat his DCs....fight back

jackwise · 14/08/2007 21:19

I'm selling our home after a seperation and I'm getting 80% and my husband 20% because there is not alot left after paying mortgage, loans, credit cards etc

minime50 · 27/01/2009 18:54

Hi there,
I have been divorced from my ex-husband since 1994. He lives in the "family home". I left due to cruelty. I have a Charge on the property, however there were conditions as mentioned above by "singledadofthree". I have been very patient and feel it is now time for me to pursue the Charge. All kids are now grown, the youngest is 20 and at Uni. My oldest son lives in the family home, has a degree and is working. Our two other children live independently. Is it too late to pursue this? How do I go about it? How much will a solicitor charge? Does the Charge still stand even though its about 9 years since implemented? Will I get what's due to me after 15 years of suffering in this marriagae?

gingerbiskit · 27/08/2010 17:56

Hi there,
I have been divorced for about 6 years now and I have one of these charges on my property. When my youngest reaches 18 or finishes full-time education, or a partner moves in with me, or I sell the house for whatever reason, my ex will get 50% of the equity in the house (which is quite a lot, since we bought the house for a very low price - it belonged to my father and he did a good deal for us). Does anybody know of any other options I may have other than offering him a large sum of money instead? I feel that I should never have trusted my solicitor when he talked me into making this decision...I've never had anything to do with solicitors before and no one in our close family had been divorced before, so I feel that I did not have a lot of help with making the right decisions - I was very naiive really. My ex was a bully and is even more so now we are divorced. My son even refuses to visit him now as he does not like the way he is treated by him. Does anyone know of any way out of this situation? I really do not want to have this hanging over my head for the next 10 years (and I couldn't afford to pay him any large sums of money anyway..!) Sorry to ramble on, only I just found out that I can't borrow any extra money on the mortgage (to buy a replacement car - mine just died) until he's signed a letter asking for his permission first !! I hope all that makes sense !

LadyLapsang · 27/08/2010 18:24

I haven't been in this situation but if your DH has better pension provision than you, then I understand that would be something you could use to trade i.e. I'll wave my right to the share of your pension pot and you wave the right to the house (but obviously each asset would need to be properly valued and you would need good legal advice).

noseinbook · 02/12/2011 01:21

Bumping this thread as it is highly relevant to me. If any of you kind ladies can add more recent experience, it would be of great help Thanks

and of course Brew

springydaffs · 02/12/2011 02:15

ginger I think you need to talk to a lawyer to see where you stand. If you can't afford one, see what you can get for free eg law shop etc. YOu could even try womens aid to see if they can advise how you can get some cheap or free legal advice? Plus a lot of family lawyers do first half hour free. Do you still have the paperwork from when the charge was set up?

There is a charge on my property due to my ex. 35%, which was very high. He gets it when youngest finishes first degree. Maybe before re certain conditions - I need to dig out the paperwork myself tbh. I also can't remortgage without ex's 'permission' as he has a charge on the property.

OP maybe post this in legal?

missyb123 · 23/11/2014 19:39

Following our divorce My ex has a 25% charge over my new property repayable with the standard terms of my child reaching 18 , ceasing to live with me or me co habiting with someone for more than 6 months . He has asked me to enter my property to check that the house is worth his 25% share and isn't falling apart basically . Is he legally within his rights to demand this does anyone know ?

user1466491793 · 27/06/2016 18:28

Following a divorce 15 years ago my ex (who was never on my mortgage or who never paid it) has a 25% charge. Our flat i bought for 65k in now worth 900k but if I want to move within the area with my 2 kids (16 and 18) I will still have to have about 800k. It's really only numbers!! I feel like I want to have the charge revoked as I made this decision when my son was 3 and under a lot of pressure. Does anyone know how to go about this please?

Cabrinha · 27/06/2016 21:45

Is this the most resurrected Zombie thread ever?! Grin that's 5 attempts to rise from the dead!

To the latest necromancer - what makes you think you can just revoke a legally binding charge?

Whether he contributed or not, when you married him you agreed to share your assets. That's what marriage does. At least he only got 25%!

I suppose you could speak to a solicitor, but you really can't just undo a charge because you changed your mind!

If you weren't of sound mind perhaps you'd have a case for negligence against the solicitor who handled your divorce.

And please, a £835,000 increase in value is not "only numbers" it is (technical term) a fuck of a lot of money. Your younger child is 16 so you don't have to move staying close to their school in just 2 years time.

Why are you asking now? Do you have to repay it yet? Seems odd to repay with youngest at 16 not 18.

You will still have a very tidy sum to buy elsewhere.

Dad2Cariad · 07/06/2017 23:40

i had a charge placed by lawyer on house by ex but in short marriage

PickAChew · 07/06/2017 23:44

I think OP might have sorted it out by now.

Bendyman · 07/09/2018 16:16

Hello I'm new on here. I'm not technically a mum but I care for my adult daughter and children.
My question she separated from her partner 12 years ago. Both her and him are joint names on morgageek. We have recently discovered a charge has been attached to the house.

  1. can we find out from whom and why this has happened
  2. stop if possible further charges Occurring. Thank you for any help with this in advance. Martin
FoookinHell · 07/09/2018 16:21

I had one, the charge was 17.5% of the equity at the time of sale, which was 9 years after the charge was put on. The house was worth a lot less at the time of the charge, than it was when I sold.

He had also had another lump sum of money from me at the last financial hearing.

The cheating, lying waste of space did very well out of me, amazing what you can get when you lie your arse through court!!

yetmorecrap · 07/09/2018 17:02

I have known this and the percentage varied depending on whether the person remaining in house took the mortgage on in full or both carried on contributing or the person leaving carried on paying in full