Equity Split on House

I have a meeting with my sol on Friday to discuss the latest from my ex2b.

Here are the valuations of all the assets and our respective incomes

House -

£400K with £115K mortgage

Savings, Cars ISA etc

Me £90K her £64K

Pensions

Me £93K her £71K

My earnings are approx £70K net per year

Her earnings are approx £13K net per year part time

She has admitted she is cohabiting in FMH with bf who earns approx £30K net per year

I pay SM and CM but SM will finish in next few months

We share children (11 & 9) 50/50 week on week off and I pay her CSA rates of 20% less half for the number of nights I have kids

We have agreed that all the investments, cars, pensions should be kept and that I should have a reduced amount from the house (mesher agreement so I will get my equity in approx 9 years when youngest finishes school)

Can anyone give me some pointers on what I should realistically be looking to get from the house - there is £276K equity after the mortgage and sales costs are taken into account - an idea of the % I should be looking for would really help.

Her sol is saying I should get 30% of the equity. I would like more but am I being realistic?

Thanks for looking

Mon

I would expect her solicitor to open the bidding at a 70/30 split in her favour, but it's important for you to understand the reasons why Mesher orders have tended to produce a result which favours the parent with care, especially when it's the wife, as is usually the case.

It very often happens with this type of order that when the youngest childreaches 18 the house has to be sold, and the PWC, who is usually the wife, then has to buy a house for her own occupation. It may be that, because she will then in all probability by in middle age and perhaps on a limited income, her mortgage capability may be limited and she may need a share of the equity which is larger than 50% to enable her to get accommodation for herself. The Courts have tended to assume that the husband will have found accommodation when the wife has to leave , so the priority is to make sure the wife is adequately housed as well.

But in this case your wife has a boyfriend with a good salary, and the above argument loses much of its force.
In addition, where there is a lot of equity, I think your solicitor can argue that even if there were a 50/50 split, it would still leave enough to buy your wife a house. Therefore there is no justification for displacing the general presumption of equality.

In addition, as I said in reply to another post, there is some evidence that judges are moving much closer to equal division when it comes to Mesher orders. Your solicitor should be able to give you an idea of how your local judge thinks.

Hope that makes you feel better - - -

Mike 100468