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?

Well this is certainly the first time I've seen 'What is a Stbeh? Separated husband?' described as a hateful comment. In the same post as troll hunting.

@Snarkastic

Well this is certainly the first time I've seen 'What is a Stbeh? Separated husband?' described as a hateful comment. In the same post as troll hunting.

Is that the only thing you took away from beenwhereyouare ‘s post? Wow! @Snarkastic -very appropriate user name

Certainly not how I read that comment - no need for a pile on RHRA

Unless he has a very sharp lawyer it will come out in court. Unless your name is on paperwork you aren't liable for a debt.

https://www.mumsnet.com/info/acronyms

Speak to your solicitor about this tomorrow.

Check your own mortgage your STBXH hasn’t remortgaged your house that you live in to buy a new house has he?
Ex did the above, I managed to stop the mortgage going thro last minute I’d have lost everything had it succeeded.

STBEH = soon to be ex husband 🤷‍♀️

Get a Marital Marker on it via the Land Registry first thing tomorrow morning OP!!!!!

Don't panic, OP.

The only real questions here are how your STBXH has financed the deposit for another house, and how he is proposing to pay the mortgage on it. If, say, his parents are helping him, this additional 'income' would also go into the pot. If it's some kind of fiddle involving his business, or cashing in his pension, or 'hidden' savings, this will also be taken into account. It's possible to hide stuff in divorce, but only if both parties are willing to hide the same stuff.

If you haven't got a solicitor, you absolutely must employ one asap.

Without the info on how he's bought it, no-one can tell you if you owe money on the mortgage etc.

Tell your solicitor asap.

Do things like the marital marker and checking with your own mortgage company.

Do you know how far along he is with buying it, or how true it is? I mean, are you sure he hasn't just made this up to upset you? There isn't much you can do today, except worry (try no to) but be ready to swing into action tomorrow morning to find out the facts.

Intentional deprivation of assets

Don’t worry OP - you’ll be ok.

I know somebody who did this quite recently actually. It meant his now ex wife got a much larger portion of the pot than she would have done otherwise. Stupid thing to do during financial negotiations

My ex bought a house prior to any financial settlement.
He owned his own business and unfortunately I cannot remember if he took money out of the business to fund the deposit sorry.
He was obviously still liable for the mortgage on the house we jointly owned as well.
When we reached a financial settlement through court, he was basically slapped on the wrist for doing so.
I was awarded all the equity in the fmh, he kept his new home which obviously had no equity in it at the time.
There is a lot of other costs involved in a house purchase, least of all furnishing it from scratch. At the time I was expected to feel grateful that he had taken nothing from the fmh. But as I pointed out wherever the money was coming from it was still a joint asset and was lessening the amount to be finally split.

Why can't he buy a house? He will need somewhere to live and spend time with his children when he has them stay with him.

The bank clearly thought he could afford it.

Don't worry OP, you won't be responsible for the debt if he has bought a new house. You may even end up getting half of any equity he put into the new house (assuming it's in his name, or owned by his business) or more of your existing home's equity.
I think you will be OK OP, but let your solicitor handle it.

The way it works with debt and assets in a marriage is that every asset is a marital asset, i.e. it belongs to both parties. So house, pension, cars, valuables belong to both people, even if only one of them paid for them. However the debt belongs to whoever's name is on the agreement.

Depending on your viewpoint it isn't very fair. For example I took out the mortgage on our family home, bought the cars, have a good pension pot. Ex didn't save for a pension, couldn't borrow money because of his poor credit rating (not apparent before marriage), paid for nothing towards the end. Yet he gets to walk away with up to half the assets without any liability for any of the debt.
I think the idea is that a stay at home mum isn't left destitute in the event of divorce. However it totally enables cocklodgers to take the piss and walk away with a pile of money. That's equality for you!

For what its worth, my take on this is that he most probably has another relationship on the go and some of the deposit/repayments are being made by this third person. When I divorced, the marital home was sold and I purchased a smaller property for myself and our three children with the proceeds. He retained a small percentage interest in the new home, which was not payable until the children were grown up and independent.

Phone your mortgage company in the morning and run a credit check on yourself tonight.

I'm assuming you're going to court as you can't agree a settlement. If you are sorting it between yourselves you can simply absolve yourself of anything to do with the new house and take equivalent assets to the deposit instead. Eg a greater share of FMH? As long as no one gets utterly shafted by the agreement "they" can't make you do anything if it's mutually agreed.

I'm still legally married and hell yes I've been putting money away. My ex has no right to it as it's my money post split. Likewise I have no interest in his money post split - it's not mine!

I've been here nearly 12 years @beenwhereyouare so your attempt at sarcasm is lost on me 😘

You need to ask your solicitor to obtain up to date office copies of the title to the property he has bought. If you are really worried you can get these yourself directly from the Land Registry tonight. They cost £3.00 These will tel, you in whose name(S) the property it is in, the price paid and the name of his mortgage lender. It may be worth getting a copy of the title to your own property to satisfy yourself that he hasn’t remortgaged the property. You may also call your current lender and make sure he hasn’t taken a further advance on your mortgage or put a 2nd charge on it. Then ask your solicitor to enter a Matrimonial Homes Rights Notice on the new property so he can’t sell it without you knowing about it. Please don’t panic.

@dontrecycle I hope things are clearer for you now.

Who’s name is family home in? Is it both? If it’s just his, there’s every reason to consider that he may have remortgaged it to fund the deposit.

Anyway, you have not signed anything to take out credit in any form, his mortgage is not your liability.