Rights to the family home if it is only in his name

[NeurospicyKoala]

Before I seek legal advice, I just wanna prepare myself for what might hit me.

What are my rights to the family home, that is solely in my husbands name?

But if context - we have been married for 12 years. And have 3 children together. The home we have lived in for 2 years, is solely in his name due to my financial circumstances at the time.
However, I am paying towards the loan he took out for the deposit. I pay 100% of the utility bills. I also did 100% of the renovations myself. (He's a lazy SOB and loves the phrase, we'll do it another time).
Anyway, 2 months ago I told him I was filing for divorce (he's spent multiple years coercively controlling me). He's dragged his feet leaving, saying that it's his house, i have no right staying and I need to leave.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm working myself up every night worried that I'm going to lose everything I've helped to build.

Do you even have any equity in the home given you have a loan for the deposit and have only lived there two years? Also, you say SOB (son of a bitch?), are you UK based or US so you can be advised by the right people?

In the U.K., the house is a marital asset so the equity he owns would be considered when deciding the financial settlement. You’d probably be entitled to at least half.

UK based.

It was a loan from family member. So unofficially a loan. A 'gift' we have to pay back

Whilst you are married, he or you can’t kick the other person out or change the locks. Usual outcome on divorce is split any equity 50:50 but that’s for negotiation and legal input.

Any paperwork or emails for that “gift”? It does not sound like a gift though as that would mean no repayment expected

I'm sorry you've been up all night worrying OP but a quick Google states he cannot force you to leave the home, even if it is in his name.

You are his wife and mother of his children. The house is half yours and he cannot evict you. A starting point for divorce will be 50:50 and will include all assets acquired during the marriage including house, property, pensions, savings etc.

It shouldn't make any difference but can you show that you paid for the renovations?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-of-home-rights-registration-hr1

you need to register your interest via this form. Prevents sale without your express consent.

I have recently filled one of these in. Looking at September before it is processed. So anything can happen in that time.

My home was in my ex husbands name. He needs to buy me out. You are automatically entitled to 50% of the equity. If there's been significant poor behaviour or if you will be left solely responsible for the kids (outside of cms) then you'd be responsible for a higher %.

This is one of those dodgy areas - my dad lent me part of the deposit for my first flat decades ago, and made me sign a hand written agreement to repay it at a set amount per month for a set time to repay the lump sum plus the rate of interest he was getting on the savings account he took it out of. I repaid it as fast as I could (I was in the kind of job that got bonuses back then and paid it off in full with that) but I was told by the mortgage advisor that I had to list the deposit as a gift otherwise the lender would have equity in the flat and the mortgage would be far more complicated and expensive.

I would imagine the fact the OP's house deposit was a loan won't have legal standing and legally it's a gift.

It's fairly common but could cause aggravation if it's regarded legally as equity to ve split but the lender is expecting it back.

How much is the loan / gift?

Be prepared for him to say it was a gift (as I assume you both told the mortgage provider) so although you’ll get 50% of the equity, whoever provided the loan will need to be paid back from your half, or not paid back.

The house - and any equity in the property will be considered a joint marital asset. As would any other assets like cars/antiques/pensions & other valuables. Also any debts would be considered as well.
Not sure where you would stand with the family unofficial loan/gift you ought to seek legal advice on that.
Neither of you would have an automatic right to stay in the property - but you certainly can't kick him out (and neither can he you).

Its all up for negotiation either between you or via mediator/solicitor.

Any children need to be housed obviously so how you divide all the assets will largely depend where they would spend most of their time.

So the family member will have signed a declaration that the money was a gift, not a loan, and that they have no 'interest' in your property

As an ex-lawyer I can say that as well.as any financial interests you might have you also have what us called a spousal right of occupation, meaning he can't simply evict you. You do.need to get legal advice asap. Good luck.

Mine came back fairly soon. And luckily I was watching out for it so I didn’t tip him off that I’d done it. They send a confirmation to the address.
It’s a long time ago since I was doing this but you can apply for an occupation order with the Family Court. I left so I didn’t need one but the home rights meant that I knew he couldn’t sell before our divorce was finalised.