Morgage-will i have to help pay if not working?

Hi,

I was just reading the thread entitled "morgage" and read that if a house is in joint names we are both expected to contribute.

This may seem like a stupid question but here goes anyway. I am moving away with the kids in a months time. i will have a rent bill of £875pm. Plus looking after 3 kids and all other bills. in the beginning my only income will be whatever benefits i will be able to claim when i have made the move and CM which we have agreed on £500pm for that. The MH is shortly going on the market and my husband is paying all the bills as is the norm. As the house is in joint names will i be expected to contribute towards the mortgage while it is "for sale"? The morgage is only half of what i am having to pay to rent.

Also when we have agreed the division of the house profits which we aim to do before i move, how do we draw up a legal document to recorded what is agreed? Does one of us just go to a solicitor with the info and they draw it up for us to sign or am i being thick here? We need to keep the costs of sols down to a minumum. I will be filing for divorce as soon as the kids are back to school in sept and i am settled. Should i wait til then or is it best to do it soon as possible.

One last question, is there a standard 50/50 60/40 rule for asset division. He keeps asking what i want but when i suggest anything he isn't happy. Basically he works (£25000)+ £6000+ army pension which is the equivalent of what he will be paying me in CM i don't work as youngest is 2yrs but will have to start again once settled (part-time) and i will have all the kids full time. i don't know what is fair and whats not. He is not happy with what a solicitor suggested to me. I know mediation would be best but once i've gone it will be impossible and he says he hasn't even got time to go see a sol at mo never mind sit down in mediation so i know it will have to be sorted out between ourselves.

Sorry i don't know much about these things but it seems it is down to me to find them out as he hasn't the time!

Thanks for any replies
Liza

Hi Liza

The posts previous were referring to one of the parties remaining living in the FMH.

I would say that if your ex is still living in it and you are in rented, then your ex would be expected to pay the mortgage not you as you have new housing costs with your children.

If you were still living in the FMH and not working I assume you would apply to the benefits agency to pay the interest only part on your behalf and your husband could pay the remainder (the Capital part if applicable). However I beleive there is a 39 week qualifying period for this to be paid?

If no one is living in the FMH then from the mortgage companies point of view you are both liable, however it would not be possible for you to pay due to your financial circumstances, so your husband would probably pay the whole amount, assuming he wanted to avoid default notices etc.
There could be a problem if he is also in rented and not in the FMH as he then has his own living costs plus his CM to pay and would he have enough to pay the mortgage on FMH also?

There is not set formula to calculate a settlement. Have you tried the calculator on here?
Obviously you would be entitled to housing benefit to contribute towards your rent costs.

Hope this helps with some of your queries.

Well I would have thought that if it is in joint names you are morally, if not legally obliged to pay something towards the mortgage. If not surely your ex should be reimbersed for the share of the payments he makes between the seperation and the sale of the house.

Why are you waiting months to get a job? I personally would find it intolerable to have to live on benefits, so degrading!!!!! AND an unneccesary drain on the taxation paid by those of us who do work!

Regarding maintence ... for 3 kids you should be getting 25% of his total take home pay!

Still since you'll only be working part-time I guess you'll get legal aid to take him to the cleaners!!!!!!!

Final thought - since he "hasn't got the time" to go to the solicitors perhaps he doesn't actually want a divorce and is trying to tell you in his roundabout way?

I know I'm new here but I can't help feeling that on a site that is supposed to be mutually supportive Julie's post reads rather like an attack on another participant. Liza doesn't seem to have any intention of taking her husband 'to the cleaners' but she and the children do need to be able to live. Can we go easy on each other, please?

I assume, Liza, that as you've not been working you've also not been contributing towards the mortgage. I can't really see how you can until you get a job, and even then it will be difficult as you will presumably have childcare costs. Assuming the house sells reasonably quickly then your ex won't be paying for long and presumably that can be taken into account when you settle the finances. If you contribute to the mortgage that is just like giving him back half the child maintenance, which seems daft.

Once you go back to work I think you should be able to get Working Tax Credit to support your childcare costs, though I think you have to be working a certain number of hours a week. The Child Tax Credit helpline is actually very helpful so it might be worth giving them a ring if you haven't already. It is hard working when you have young children, so take it slowly, as they will be disrupted by the move already.

Sadie

Here here Sexysadie!

Personal attacks on each other wont help anybody. There are always reasons why people do certain things and its not always clear from posts! Unless of course someone wants to write a complete life history of themselves.
We are all here to help one another get through whats a major difficult time in ones life.
For whatever reason someone is very bitter, then thats down to them and their problems. Bitterness is a foul emotion and taking it out on someone else is never good. We are not all the same and we cant all be blamed for whats happening to someone in their lives.
Without the personal attacks, lets help one another, in whatever way we can!

And Liza, no question is a "stupid question" if you need an answer to it.

Kind Regards Liza
I for one know where your coming from.

Louise:)

Liza

I would just like to say that despite what Julie says it is NOT degrading to be on benefits it is a right. We all as citizens pay into the system through tax (and lets not forget VAT on goods here which is paid by all working or not) and take from it when the need arises.

As for finding a job it can take time as I know from personal experience, and the constant rejection hard to bear, especially when there is the practical and emotional aspects of divorce to deal with as well.

Looking after 3 children is more than a full-time job; it is more like 2 full-time jobs. Bringing up the next generation is important work, afterall these children will be running things when we are old.

I wish you a happy future for you and your children.

Shelia

Well I will defend myself!

I have worked hard ever since I can remember,both studying and in paid employment. Consequently I have a good career. I have two wonderful children ... I managed to work in a very demanding job and bring up two well balanced, bright and personable daughters.

I have a real problem with women bringing children into this world that they can not afford to support by their own labours! Not to mention the unnecessary burden on the taxpayer!!!!

RAISING CHILDREN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD! BUT to rely on benefits to do that job takes the Micky out of all those who work. Which leads me back to the question of why wait for months to get a job?

Others might not find it demeaning to live on benefits - I do! It's my opinion and thank heaven in the UK we are entitlled to hold and state our opinions!

I only claimed child benefit a year ago because it meant that my bf could reduce his CSA to his lazy, legal aid funded ex-wife.

Axe to grind? You bet!!!!!!! Totally fed up that the legal aid supported stay at home parent takes the hard working spouse to the cleaners? Right again!