Just heard back from my solicitor with regards to my ongoing divorce and wondered if any of you mortgage "experts" would be able to advise me.
The plan is that my ex will keep the marital home and she buy me out to the level what I've paid in over the last 3 years or so. However, due to my ex only working part-time, we cannot transfer the mortgage over to her name only as the mortgage companies wouldnt touch her with her part-time income.
Now, my wife can undertake to the court that she will indemnify me against the current mortgage on the marital home (meaning I'm not financially responsible and they cant come to me for money should she not keep up the repayments etc) but it will not technically "release" me from the mortgage.
So the killer question is: will I still technically be able to get a mortgage in my own name on another property while I'm tied to the one on the marital home?
I've asked my solictor what she thinks and she has told me she cannot advise and I would be better off speaking to individual mortgage companies.
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Although I'm not a legal expert I have gone through a divorce myself - I don't really think your wife's proposal will work. If she only works part time where will she get the money from to idemnify you should she default on the payments ?
if she can't afford it, she can't afford it . Full stop.
Sell the house buy her a flat - job done.
Even after paying top dollar for the best legal advice, I still get the feeling I'm going to be stitched up and none of this is my fault!
Not an expert in standard residential mortgages as I only deal with investment property finance but if your names there your on the hook.
Have you actually asked the lender if you can come off the mortgage? Probably daft question but I know lenders did not (may have changed in current climate) worry about income if the "loan to value" is below a certain level.
I beleive you could in theory get a second mortgage in your name - a good mortgage broker will tell/help you. Problem is that in this market lenders dont really want to lend unless its below 75% LTV.
Is that the case now? I thought that you cannot force the sale if there is a child under 18 AND if the parent remaining in the house can afford to take on the payment, but appreciate things may have changed over the last few-ish years.
And the law, apparently, is on their side. Naturally.
Where do I start? House-wise, I cannot force the ex to sell the house and downgrade. Also, because the ex works part-time (and any court will side with her that she cant until the little one reaches school going age), she cannot take over the mortgage in her own name (and she has no-one that can act as guarantor for her) so I will be forced to stay on the mortgage whether I like it or not, purely for my credit rating.
Now, because of this, my ex cannot buy my interest in the house even though she has significant savings, and a court will give a Mesher Order, putting a charge on the house whereby I am paid my interest in the house further down the line, when 1 of 3 events are triggered - (a) the ex remarries, (b) the ex cohabits with another for 6 months, or (C) when my little one reaches 16 or the end of full-time education.
Make sense so far?
Maintenence-wise, child maintenence is calculated at 15% of your net salary. No issues with that. Unfortunately, because the ex is part-time, her "expenses" far exceed her "income" so she is within her rights to claim for "spousal maintenence". I nearly passed out when my solicitor told me that both together are going to cost me around £700 a month.
So there you have it, and that doesnt even take into account the split of our assets and her claim to my pension funds accrued while we were together.
Does make me wonder why I bothered to get a good education, to get a degree, to fight my way up from doing two jobs simultaneously averaging 60 hours per week for less than £5 an hour and then when I did get a break, I worked hard to get to where I am now. And what for? This divorce is going to leave me without a pot to p1ss in pardon the expression
Am I angry? No. Sad, yes. I just want it all over and done with now. I've got no issue paying maintenence for my little one, she's my world but it puts it all in perspective when she woke me up on the sofa yesterday morning to tell me I'm the best Daddy in the world. My ex may ruin me financially but I'm not going to let her destroy me or the relationship I have with my daughter.
I'm one of the lucky ones. I get to see my daughter. My thoughts go out to those that dont see their kids, that must be the hardest thing in the world.
Keep your chin up mate, all things pass.
Would shared ownership be feasible for you?
Not ideal but at least it enables you to buy into a place as the amount you would need to borrow would be less.
Alternatively do you have any presently mortgage free family who would be willing to help you out by taking a mortgage in their name either on their own property or for a share of wherever you buy and you effectively repay them the amount of the mortgage. Their "reward" is a share of any gain in the property when it is sold or you are in a position to buy them out.
Yes Len, Shared Ownership is an option. However, priority is normally given to those already on the local authority housing lists. I looked into this 6/7 years ago before I met my ex as I was considering it then. As for other options, extremely limited, both parents and other close family are retired or work part-time themselves.
Other than that, think I might start investing in a thing called a lottery ticket this week.
In all seriousness, I may even have to consider going on the council housing list, something I never thought I'd hear myself say. I've been bunking on my parents sofa for the last 13/14 months since I moved out of the marital home. Ok, I'm lucky to be able to have that option. I dont know what I would have done without them. Anyhow, until the divorce is finalised, I have to continue to pay what my usual contribution to household bills was for the marital home and its strictly limits the cash I have left at the end of each month making renting a non-option for the timebeing...
And yet you own a home, which it's not possible to live in.
It's a lunatic world we live in.
This will soon piss her off and start being reasonable. U said she's got substantial savings - surely the "courts" should take this into consideration with this spouse mainteance.
I know it sounds daft my way but I'm fooked if I'd move out if she'd done the dirty or whatever she did, can't remember what u said now, and you're the one suffering.
Good luck pal anyway sounds like an absolute NIGHMARE.
I'd recommend shared ownership, but not every bank / building society is willing to lend on shared ownership properties, and the fact you already have a mortgage on the place that your ex is now living is only likely to complicate matters further. Getting yourself on the council housing list is a good idea - it'll give you a foot in the door with Housing Associations for rental properties as well as shared ownership, cos you can't kip on your parents sofa forever.
Best of luck
Lol, you arent the first person to suggest that. Can you imagine the reaction I'd get? Especially if I brought someone back first night too lol. Not sure I'd like it if she done similar...
They are not in her name. Inheritance held in trust and all that...so not a matrimonial asset...so she doesnt even have to admit she's got them...
Cheers for the support and whispers chaps, means a lot. At the end of the day, I've been dealt a rough hand of cards and I just need to get on and deal with it as best I can now. I know I will come out the other side soon but hopefully sooner rather than later so I know where I stand and can make some sort of plan for the future.
Last 6 months have been hell but i'm still living in the marital home and will not move out at any cost. I will either rent the property out or sell..........market is not right to sell & lucky if we will clear the mortgage & certainly no equity. Could rent it out & get enough to pay the monthly mortgage (albeit on i/only) and for me to rent something.......but not her & 3 kids and so where do they go.......private rent or council. Private rent will cost too much and council ????????Then I ask myself, why deprive them of a lovely home & garden to end up in a something a lot smaller with no room for them to play..........so I'm thinking of staying put and see what happens.
The bloke always gets the rough end of divorce - esp where kids are concerned.
John,
You should, if at all possible consider shared ownership. The rules a very different for resales, priority usually only applies to new build schemes where the Housing Association thinks that demand will outstrip supply.
I am currently living in a shared ownership property (2 bed flat Royal Arsenal, Woolwich...nudge nudge ;-) )and the sales process works as follows - you have to give the Housing Association 12 weeks to find you a buyer from there database, if as has happened in my case, they don't find you anyone you can go to the open market.
Ours is currently on with Harris Ingram - Plumstead branch.
Mortgage wise, the market is narrow but Halifax & Kent Reliance do good deals for shared ownership mortgages.
If you are seriously considering it see if you can get an appointment with a company called Sherwins. They are experts in the field and did all the mortgage stuff for me when we initially bought.
Good luck in your new chapter of life.
Christ, I've just read back through the thread. The whole divorce process is not one I ever want to go through again tbh. I'm numb to it all now. I'm fortunate that I get on better with the ex-wife now than I ever did and as a result, I've got a great relationship with my daughter and thats all that matters. I'm also fortunate that after 2 character-building years of sleeping on my parents sofa, I was able to scramble together a very modest deposit to get a mortgage. 2.5 years down the line, I'm still single but I'm back alive and kicking