Long time lurker but first post.
So my DN was married to a lowlife. We will use the initial W for him. W and my DN werent married many years maybe 3 or 4 , Ive got to check , before it went wrong. But they share a child together. Child is no 11.
My DN doesnt have a financial order. She has never got one because she has been too frightened of W to obtain one and she could never afford the court fees. However I have been impressing on her the importance of getting one, especially now as some things have happened which I think give us an opportunity. We are of course going to a sols to get advice but just wanted to get a bit of a heads up before we go.
My DN has been living in the house they bought together when they were first married. The deposit was paid by my sister so nothing paid in by W.
My DN receives nothing in Child Maintenance. W has occasionally given her a few quid for a pair of shoes, its all adhoc and when he feels like it. We dont think that W works, so is just on benefits as far as we are aware. He refuses to give any details. DN is too scared to go to CMS.
When the marriage first ended my DN moved out with the baby as the situation was unbearable. He paid the mortgage by himself for a few months whilst she moved into rented and paid everything for the baby.
We told her that was a ridiculous situation as she was living in a 1 roomed place and told her to move back in and he moved out fortunately.
My DN has since paid the whole of the mortgage, she works p/t 30 hours a week. She provides everything for her daughter. W contributes pretty much zero.
W has just inherited a decent amount of money and we are hoping that we can use this as a bit of an incentive to suggest he now gets this sorted. We are not after the inheritance at all, but now he has some money he wont get legal aid so we are hoping to persuade him to settle this without the need for long costly solicitors and a court hearing etc which would be expensive. Money my DN simply does not have. We also understand that if he is on benefits most of these will be lost due to his inheritance, so he actually wont have to pay any child maintenance anyway (even though he pays pretty much nothing - not even the £7 per week he should be)
Our biggest hope is that he just lets her have the house. Or at least lets her have it for a very small amount because hes not lived there long and hasnt contributed to the mortgage.
There is a contact order in place but W does not keep to this. He is meant to have her every other weekend but he barely sees her. DN cant afford to take him to court over this.
We tried to do this a few years ago but he refused to answer any questions, she then had to arrange mediation and he refused to turn up and at that time we didnt have the money to pursue it.
Has anybody got any advice or suggestions. Have we got a hope in hell she would be awarded the house.