In a panic. Stbeh has bought a house without telling me.

[dontrecycle]

Just found out he has bought a house. We have not yet agreed on a financial settlement.

I live in the family home at present. Two kids.

I don't know how but am I liable for this? Does the debt for this house now come into play in our financial settlement?

Someone upthread earlier said 'how many times do you need to be told'. I'm sat here shaking and worried so probably not retaining information. So I'm sorry if I've asked for responses more than once or got the wrong end of the stick. I've never been divorced before.

Thank you to everyone who has replied. It's just hard taking it all in.

He won't tell me how he paid for it.

His business may well be the owner of this other house or may have loaned him money. There are lots of ways he could have done this alone. Do you know when he completed on the purchase? It can take several weeks for the Land Registry records to be updated, but I've found recently that sale prices are available, without ownership info, within a month on the gov.uk Land Registry website. You just need the address - just the postcode could be enough.

That was a very stupid move on his part.
The financial settlement should have all been done first. Don't speak to him directly about it-it sounds like you won't get the truth anyway.
Just tell your solicitor.

I said that because every response you had was telling you that its find. You dont have any extra debt and will still be awarded a financial settlement which takes into account that deposit. And you kept replying that no, you're married so it's your debt. You just werent listening.

You need to calm down. You dont need to know how he paid for. That can be sorted through the solicitors. Make sure you tell yours. But calm down and leave it to the professionals.
You wont gain anything by going on at him.

You were very worries about having half of this debt given to you and being paid off from joint assets before you get the left over. That isnt going to happen. So leave it be until the solicitors sort it out and dont panic.

If he has done something really sneaky, it will come out in the wash.

Could be have paid with money from the business in a (hopefully misguided) attempt to secure the money away from you?

Friend got told he could be a house and it would be his alone even thought they hadn't settled divorce .
As they had officially seperated anything pre separation assets/debt would be joint .

My ex told me he'd bought a house during our divorce, my solicitor contacted his who confirmed that he'd actually moved into a house he was renting with a view to purchasing once I'd bought him out of the fmh, which is very different.

Neither of you should be making any substantial purchases or investments at the stage you're at.

I would imagine the chances of him committing fraud like that would be very tiny, because he would know that it would come out during your divorce proceedings.

Why are you shaking and worried. Maybe hes been popping money aside for a while/has savings/parents have 'invested' in a property that he will live in. Its really none of your business and presumably he needs a roof over his head. It could take years for divorce to go through and you to sell the family house and split the money

@Longdistance

Has he taken money from the family home? Remortgaged it to get a deposit?

This

my friends OH did this to buy his girlfriend and him a house, she lost everything. Get on this tomorrow.

Why are you shaking and worried. Maybe hes been popping money aside for a while/has savings/parents have 'invested' in a property that he will live in.

Because I don't think you can just 'pop money aside' during a marriage and then go and buy a house with it, can you? Presumably that was income that would be considered family money?

@Pobblebonk

I just think he's got me into debt with an additional mortgage without my consent.

He's put me in 1000s of debt without my consent.

Stop panicking, he hasn't. You can't conceivably be liable for a mortgage without knowing about it. If he has bought a house in his name it is his house, likewise any mortgage he has it is down to him. However, the equity will have to be taken into consideration in any financial settlement.

There seems to be a common misconception on MN that married people are automatically liable for each other's personal debts. It simply isn't true.

Well it was in my mums case bank weren`t interested that husband had forged documents. Just wanted the money. She lost the house.

I suspect the clue to affordability lies in the comment that he has his own business

This is what stood out for me too

No wonder he's "not had it valued"

Maybe hes been popping money aside for a while/has savings

All that should then have been on his Form E and it is absolutely the OP’s business.

Don’t panic OP and get on to your solicitor as soon as you can.

For those saying the equity will be taken into account surely that means both the asset and liability is then joint as the equity is asset minus liability.

If the value of the house goes down and there is negative equity, then is the OP liable for that ? I don't understand how the OP can benefit from equity but not the other way round.

Agree OP is not legally responsible for the mortgage but the equity is value minus mortgage so in that way the mortgage is part of the pot ie net.

Maybe I'm being pedantic, would appreciate an explanation as to how she can benefit from equity but doesn't have to worry about mortgage debt (even if it manifests as a net not actual mortgage on financial position) - genuinely interested in case tone of my post is arsey (not meant to be)

He should not have bought a house before the financial settlement was agreed. Maybe he's bought it as an asset of his business. Or used his pension fund if he cashed it in. I think you have a right to be worried but the mortgage won't be your debt. You need to ask your solicitor how this will affect things. But he would still have to live somewhere and pay rent.

IslaLane is spot on

Surely if he went behind OP's back and remortgaged the family home it would be considered fraudulent if he didn't obtain OP's signature to do it.

He needs somewhere to live

If he’s taken more than his fair share out the the marital pot to pay for it, if he can’t fund your portion in the divorce out of other assets, he will have to sell the house.

He needs somewhere to live

That's not the point. He does have somewhere to live at the moment, and needed to wait until the financial settlement is decided before making a permanent move.

Please do check he hasn't remortgaged your house to get the deposit.

And BTW, the advice given to most women on MN is to stay in the house, don't disrupt the children's lives, get an occupation order. That he wanted to leave so let him worry about where he'll live, that he can find a bedsit, etc.

In this case, she didn't denigrate her "D"H. She specifically said she was panicking.

It was HIS idea to leave.
He was renting somewhere else and didn't need to move.
He made sure to do this before the financial settlement.
He hadn't yet disclosed the value of his business.
He won't tell OP how he paid for the house.

A logical assumption is that he either removed money from his business or cashed in his pension.
It seems clear that he was trying to remove assets to avoid an equitable settlement.

OP, you've gotten a lot of good advice. People are right to tell you to see your solicitor, get a copy of the land document from the Land Registry. Undoubtedly both your current credit histories will be looked at when settling finances, which is another way to be sure he hasn't run up debt in your name.

If I could add anything it would be to stop asking him. It seems clear he's not going to tell you, so for your own peace of mind let your solicitor handle getting that information.

Good luck and let all that good advice sink in so you can sleep tonight.