Buying a house pre-divorce

[Brokensleeps]

DH and I are separating - I need to buy a house to have somewhere for me and DC to live but don't understand how I do this as all the legal advice says to wait for divorce to be finalised - which will take at least 20 weeks +

How did others manage? Did anyone buy pre-divorce and was there a way to make this (relatively) safe to do?

How would you buy a house without a financial order in place? Where would you get your money from?

@Soontobe60 I'd be getting a mortgage using my income. We don't own a house otherwise.

Do people not sometimes buy pre-financial order? If the money can be amicably divided beforehand?

My ex SIL did this as she earned a very good salary and had a lot of savings. It was fine as things were amicable. My brother later bought her out of their joint property and all was well. However, surely your STBEXH could potentially go after it as a shared asset if he was minded to do so? In which case, probably not to be recommended.

I don't think you can do it without it potentially becoming part of the marital asset pot.

Have you spoken to a solicitor directly?

If you're on amicable terms, maybe you could draw up something binding beforehand but you'd definitely want to make sure it's watertight with a solicitor.

Yes you can do it.
Start the divorce process.
Draft the consent order reflecting your agreement. It can’t be lodged with the court made into a binding court order until 20 weeks (conditional order) but if you have signed the drafts ready to lodge with the court and both been legally advised then the risks are likely to be low as you can each seek to hold the other to your open agreement - and but seek specific advice

@Familylawso1icitor thank you, this is really helpful

sorry for typos - phone typing!!

I did it, we sold the marital home and split the equity. He wasted his, I bought a home. I spoke to a solicitor and she said I did the sensible thing and he could try and claim but as I have proof we split the equity and he hasn't paid a penny towards it and doesn't live in it he wouldn't get very far.

Thanks @Yettisrus2 yes I figure in practise loads of people must have to do this so they have somewhere to live!

I think you need to be careful because he could have a claim on it. Speak to a solicitor first.

It depends on how the separation / divorce is going.

If there's agreement on split of assets it's easier. In mine we sold the family home (and an investment property) and then individually decided what to do with the money. Accept many people are in more difficult situations than this.

If I was entangled in maintenance discussion or how to split marital assets I'd probably leave it until those issues are resolved

I did it. We got an interim financial order to cover the marital home and cash. The full financial order covering pensions etc came later.
But he was as invested in selling the marital home as I was.
And full divorce took much longer than 20 weeks

Thanks. We are agreed I think so it sounds like an interim financial order is the way to go. Did you get a solicitor to help with this @MollyButton ?

What about the deposit though?

Sorry only just seen this, yes I had solicitors. One for the divorce and one for the house sale/purchase. Both very much on my side and keen to keep costs down

I'm in Scotland and it was fine (not amicable divorce) but we had a date of separation agreed on writing and it was after that so didn't count as an asset. I was advised this was fine by a lawyer, but might be different in other parts of uk.