Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Second wife tale?

151 replies

BonneMaman77 · 30/03/2020 22:13

I remarried three years ago and went from being a newly single woman to paying for maintenance of new husband's kid's and their mortgage on the home the kids live with their mother. Plus his half of our life. He lost his job a few months before we got married and was in any case, focused on his start-up.

The start-up has a lot of potential and he works really hard on it. He is the hardest working man i know. It is in a good place with good investors and potential clients. Still, potential not done. I am tiring of this life where i am the breadwinner and wonder for how long this will go on. Before a I moved to a new job about a year ago with a huge pay-rise I was eating into my savings and have halved it. I resent not being able to afford the life i want for me and us because of the expense for the kids.

How do deal with this?

OP posts:
blackcat86 · 31/03/2020 15:04

I'm afraid you have fallen into a trap there. I did the same initially, trying to be a good gf, DW and SM. I was a mug and all my hopes and dreams ended up being put on hold whilst I was expected to fund and basically parent everyone. It was for no gratitude either. I went from having savings to up to my eyes in debt. I sat DH and told him that the bare minimum I expect is 50/50 financially - I had gone PT for childcare after mat leave but still seemed to be paying the lions share. I would no longer fund his DS or ex at all, costs for our household would be 50/50. I've stuck to it and whilst DH has found it difficult I need to rebuild myself and look at what I want. How long will you put yourself second? 3 years, 5, 10, 20? Do you have things you would like to do if you weren't funding 4 other adults? Why cant their parents fund their 2 children?

madcatladyforever · 31/03/2020 15:13

You are being taken for a grade A idiot.
I am speechless.
Even if I loved someone with all my heart the answer to this set up would be a big fat no.

sonjadog · 31/03/2020 15:16

So, you are paying half the mortgage on a house you have no ownership of, you are paying for other people's children to go to university, and all you have is a vague promise of money from a business that you have no legal stake in?

You have been had, OP.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 31/03/2020 15:30

DH has always said first thing we do when he makes any money is reinstate my savings and payback all the money to me

Easy to say isn't it - except then the DCs will need a house deposit, another car or whatever else, and guess who'll be expected to pay.
Meanwhile you have nothing in writing and you're three years down the line with no real end in sight while you paying for everything gets more established by the day

I get why everyone else is happy for this to continue but not why you are, and as a (retired) business owner myself I'd want a lot more clarity on when exactly he expects to make any money... and that does mean clarity, rather than promises and platitudes

Finally, apologies from not being able to offer any wisdom from "those who've done it". I've only known three, and it ended very badly for all of them when they finally realised how they'd been used

Blushingm · 31/03/2020 15:35

Why is he wanting to pay mortgage AND maintenance?

notsuremate · 31/03/2020 15:36

That house needs to be sold and for you to be given back the money you’ve forked out on his behalf. Get that written down and get him to sign it. I’m worried for you.

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 31/03/2020 15:48

I agree with PP's, the former family home needs to be sold and his ex can downsize to a flat - like you! As long as the DC have somewhere to sleep during the holidays, they'll be fine, it doesn't need to be a large house.

Please insist on some action now, OP, or this could go on for years - as PP's have said, DC will need cars, house deposits, etc.

If you're willing to contribute towards their uni food and accommodation, that's v. kind of you, but should be your decision. In your shoes, I think I would if I could afford it, but you're totally not obliged to!

Windyatthebeach · 31/03/2020 16:01

Are you actually enjoying the ride you are being taken on op?
You are financially providing others with a quality of life you don't even have yourself!! If your relationship ended suddenly what would you walk away with?

Puzzledandpissedoff · 31/03/2020 16:04

That house needs to be sold and for you to be given back the money you’ve forked out

Not easy to sell a house without the co-owner agreeing - and since the co-owner is the ex wife I hardly think she'll do that while she's sitting pretty

I wonder just how much of the sunk costs fallacy is going on for OP, as in "I've paid out all this time and don't want to lose it, so if I just hang on a bit longer it'll all come right". It's an easy trap to fall into, only to find years down the line that you're skint and no further forward

SambaMamba · 31/03/2020 16:08

Agree. Why isn’t house sold and ex w in a flat? Then they wouldn’t have to pay uni fees

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 31/03/2020 16:15

@Puzzledandpissedoff

But if the co-owner (ex DH) can't pay the mortgage anymore, there'll be no choice - unless ex wife can pay it instead. They can't hang onto a house that neither of them can pay for.

It's hard and shit to have to sell the family home, but situations change and many ppl do after a split. Unless one can buy the other out.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 31/03/2020 16:26

You're absolutely right, AmICrazy, but as I understood it the PP was suggesting the DH himself insist it be sold, and I doubt he'd find that easy even if he wanted to

And while OP's paying he almost certainly won't

BumbleBeee69 · 31/03/2020 16:35

OMFG .... OP you ARE being shafted on a grand scale Shock

Pumpkinpie1 · 31/03/2020 16:52

It doesn’t matter that you are earning more now than you did a few years ago.

You’re not responsible for his EX & his children . That’s your husbands responsibility. If he can’t pay , then the financial agreement needs changing.
The house needs to be sold and they separate financially. The equity in the house should help his business & pay you back. Both parents should be paying for their children not expecting you to plug their shortfall

I think you’re being very foolish , his children are older & the need for a larger family home when they will soon be leaving for good seems foolish.

If he is serious about his business he needs to stop playing games, invest his own money , pay you back or formalise your investment

otterhound · 31/03/2020 16:53

You need to own half the business. That way if you divorce before it takes off.....
Also you might find getting half the business in divorce is not quite as straightforward as it sounds

Did the court put a time line on the sale of the marital home?

Its probably time to approach your marriage with the same professionalism you do your job

BackseatCookers · 31/03/2020 17:03

You're holding onto the idea of getting half the business if you were to divorce.

That means half of nothing. Or not much at all, by the sounds of how he's running it ie making no (or barely any) profit three years in.

It's a failed start up and that's OK - they don't all work out. So he needs to find another way to meet his financial responsibilities instead of expecting you to foot the bill for his responsibilities.

He is being so, so selfish.

rvby · 31/03/2020 17:39

Wow!!! You are banking (literally) on nothing but words!

I predict a few things here:

If the house is sold, exw will get 50% of the proceeds (as she should), and he will "invest" the rest in the business, and tell you it will all come back to you. And you'll tell him you trust and believe him. And you'll never see that money again. Instead you'll be here, trying to get someone to tell you how not to resent him for shafting you.

If the business takes off, you'll be shut out at best (you aren't even a director ffs!), perhaps dumped outright because you've outlasted your usefulness.

Your savings might be paid back to you, to shut you up. But without interest. Perhaps he will adjust for inflation just so he can claim to others that he didn't shaft you.

Talk is cheap OP. You need a solicitor and a very firm wobble of your head.

The ones who scam the best, are the ones who are the loveliest, sweetest, most fun. You are deep in the shit! Stunned by this thread tbh... wish I was as devoid of morals as some people, I could be "working on my startup" for 20 years while batting my eyelashes at my DP and playing Solitaire the rest of the time

rvby · 31/03/2020 17:40

His cock must be studded with rubies!!!!

Frenchw1fe · 31/03/2020 18:45

A fool and his money is soon parted.

Ghostontoast · 31/03/2020 18:46

Or her money

BonneMaman77 · 31/03/2020 18:51

Thank you to everyone who has shared your views. Although this is not what i was looking for I understand and accept that I need to talk to DH and get this out in the open and make some changes. That is what i need to do to stop the resentment I am feeling.

To some posters on here, the language you use and the comments you make unfortunately render your opinions, sometimes even very good ones, useless. Do think twice about your words and their effect on any wisdom you may have to impart. We are adults here who are all fallible and have and will make bad decisions and poor judgements through our lives and we come here for advice, not to be insulted or read bad language.

OP posts:
rvby · 31/03/2020 19:04

You've got it backwards OP.

I put it to you that the grown-up thing to do here isn't to clutch your pearls over some swear words, but instead look past any ribaldry, and take the very plain wisdom that's sitting right in front of you.

Get a solicitor. You're being had.

Susanna85 · 31/03/2020 19:12

The (adult) children are coming to the end of the academic year. Perhaps you could discuss with DH / make a decision that you wont be prepared to fund another academic year's worth of accommodation etc. That gives them plenty of time to save, get part time work or full time over the summer to fund next years studies. As for the mortgage, no idea how to tackle that one!

TheMotherofAllDilemmas · 31/03/2020 19:13

OP good luck with the conversation, even after your updates, I think he is still taking the mickey. You don’t pay for living expenses in Uni if you don’t have an income (or better said, you find a job that helps to support them)

Mesher orders... keeping an interest in the equity of the house, is an arrangement that ends when the younger kid turns 18 or leaves FT secondary education. I would say that in the vast majority of the cases, the person staying in the house takes on the mortgage, unless there is a huge disparity on salaries with the non resident parent having the higher one, such order can be easily amended if the non resident parent has no longer funds to pay the mortgage.

With regards to the start up, is worth nothing unless is producing a sizeable amount of money, and no matter how much you are indirectly investing on it (like keeping your husband financially able/ comfortable while he is setting it up) it does NOT belong in any part or percentage to you if it is not written down in a contract. (I learn that the hard way, my ex’s start up was worth a few millions a couple of years after setting up, so it was “our business, our pension, our security” but the moment we split, my solicitor explained to me that despite the huge sacrifices I made, I had no right to a penny of it.

I would thread carefully Op, you never get to know your partner until you say “no” to something important to him. If you own a house, I wouldn’t be surprised if he claims the vast majority of the house equity on the very reasonable excuse, that all housewives use, that you had a better salary therefore they need to take more of the assets to achieve a fair split.

Good luck.

UncleBillyLostHisWilly · 31/03/2020 19:17

@BonneMaman77

How do I deal with this?

Well, if you want to go on holidays and not be so skint because you're paying for the ex and your husbands mortgage and funding their children's lifestyle then I suggest you stop paying the ex and your husbands mortgage and you stop funding the children's lifestyle.

That should free up some money!

Although people have already suggested this and you don't seem to want to take the suggestions on board.