how to advise relative in likely divorce?

[EdgarAllenPoo]

a close relative has decided to leave her husband - they have no children but they have a house in their names jointly.

she is still living there for the time being, though wishes to leave the area totally - he works nearby so will likely stay on and perhaps take in a housemate to cover costs.

so - she wants her name off the house, as he has been known to have bad credit in the past.

what's the best route to a speedy and cheap divorce? she is willing to give up any stake in the house (pretty small in the great scheme of things) though he may want her to leave her name on for the next 5 year fixed term part of the mortgage.

which advisory body would be best to look to first?

www.resolution.org.uk which is the body to which all good divorce lawyers belong. If she's seriously thinking of losing an asset (her share of the house) but keeping on the liability, she's very definitely in need of a good solicitor's advice. By staying on the mortgage, if it falls into arrears it'll obviously affect her credit rating.

thank you, i think it's definitely more of a liability!

If he can't afford to buy her out of the house, she could transfer it to him for nothing (if it's in negative equity or there's v. little equity, but that must be strictly on the basis that he remortgages in his sole name. If he can't or won't do that, she should keep the deeds as well as the mortgage account in joint names. Otherwise the house should be sold.

So far as the divorce itself is concerned, she could do the petition herself to save money. She can download the form from the court website (hmcs.gov.org, I think), and can apply for the decree nisi herself, but at the very least she needs to get a solicitor to draw up a consent order which both of them sign and which is then approved by the court and which will cover all the financial stuff. That should be done before she applies for decree absolute.

Three of the grounds for divorce depend on their being separated for at least 2 years, the other two options are adultery or unreasonable behaviour. The court fee for issuing the petition is £300, the decree absolute fee is £40, as is the fee on lodging the consent order.

If all is agreed in principle on the money side she may get away with paying as little as £500 & VAT to a solicitor for drawing up, perfecting & having sealed the consent order.

If the solicitor has to do a lot more than that in terms of going through the finances in detail then costs will rise. A good solicitor in SE will be between £180 to £240 per hour.

i think the house is the only coplication, otherwise it would be straightforwards -

though do you need a formal separation to divorce on two years grounds?

The separation period can start from when they start to live separate lives, ie even if under the same roof, but not sharing a bed, not eating/cooking/shopping jointly. They also both need to agree, can't do it without written consent at the divorce stage.

If I were advising her I'd be going down the divorce route ideally so that if they can't get the finances sorted they can hang that application onto the divorce proceedings.

Otherwise, if they can agree on money but don't want a divorce yet they should do a separation deed which is legally binding but not ratified by the court.