Please help - marital home

I recently moved out of the marital home with my son who is 5. My husband refused to move out. Im now back at my parents home which now feels very crowded, my husband is in 4 bed house. The home is valued at 140k with a joint mortgage of 101k. My solicitor has advised me that the home will have to be sold (or i will be bought out by spouse) and there will be a 60/40 split in my favour. This works out at 23k for me and my son to find a new home, the average 2 bed in my area is 110k, which means i will have to have a mortgage of 87k, i only earn 12k a year!. I have 8.5k of marital debts on credit cards, my husband cleared all his credit cards with remortgages 12k in last 3 years. Does this seem fair? He is now threatening that if i dont sign for the mortgage to be paid interest only, that he will no longer pay the mortage.

My spouse has a child from a previous marriage. The csa have told me that my case will be added to the original case (his child from 1st marriage) and it will be worked out together. 20% will be taken from his wages of 29k a year and split between the 2 children. I will receive average of £180 per month.

I am currently receiving tax credits of £40.24 every 4 weeks, i was told this would increase to £59 a week. My spouse has not paid any maintenance for our child since i left.

Please can someone help - i dont know what else to
do!!

First reaction - I assume that your son by your present husband is living with you and the other is living in the former marital home with his father. Am I right ?

Second - the Court's priority is to make sure the children have a home. That normally means that the parent with care has the right to live in the former marital home as long as the children are still dependent. However, as far as I can see, there are two children here and each now lives with a different parent.

The Court's priority will still be with the children, but this is a difficult one to answer without knowing more of the husband's circumstances. I think that, if I were the judge, I would ask, would it be possible for the father to raise sufficient capital to buy a home for himself and his son, leaving you with the house, but with the husband retaining an interest in the house which could be realised when your son grows up ?

So I think the situation may call for some creative thinking, but without knowing more, I not even guess.

Mike100468

Hi HJ

Hope you find this site useful

My initial reaction I'm sorry to say is that I am actually pleased to hear about a solicitor advising you that a 60/40 split would be probable.

I assume that as your husband is paying to the csa for his previous child that this child lives with the mother and not with your husband?
In that case, your husband is in the FMH alone and you are at your parents with your son?

I would request that he allow you and your child to return to the FMH and that he in fact move out, as this would probably be best for your son in the short term pending the outcome. He would surely want the best for his son too?

Obviously if you were to move back in then he may stop paying the bills and if that did happen you would need to apply for interim spousal maintenance, in order that you could meet the bills. Reducing the mortgage to interest only for a short time could be a good idea.
Would it be possible that if you remained in the FMH, you would be able to afford it on your own with the help of tax credits, spousal maintenance and child maintenance?

In the case where there is not enough equity in the FMH to rehouse both parties, then the PWC needs would come first and foremost. I do not know whether it would be likely to get a "mesher" order in place for your to stay in the FMH until your child reaches 18, did your solicitior explain about this possibility? I would suspect that this may not be an option as your home is 4 bedroom and as this appears to be the only asset, it would be expected to be sold to purchase two "smaller" homes.

It is assumed that after divorce, neither of you would be able to live as you did before and will both probably have to adjust to a lower standard of living than at the marriage, however this would not mean living in poverty.

I am sure that with your salary, increased tax credits, child benefit, child maintenance and possibly spousal maintenance you would be able to afford a reasonable standard of living again.
The problem of purchasing a new home with insufficient capital is one I am also facing, and I do not have the answer to that one I'm afraid.

From the sounds of it your solicitor is giving you all good advice and hopefully your husbands solicitor will do the same, he would then see that he is being unreasonable to not allow you back into the FMH with your son in the short term.

Yes you are right, my husband and i have a son that now lives with me in my parents home, my husband also has a child from a previous marriage, she lives with her mother and my spouse pays child maintenance for her. My spouse is now living in the 4 bed FMH on his own with all of our sons toys and things and the family pets. He has stated that he will not move out, as he has no where else to go!
I have tried to work out my finances, and yes with all the extra tax credit, child maintenance and possibly spousal maintenance i would be able to take on FMH and the mortgage.