Laws on Houses bought before marraige

My Husband and I are going thorough a separation and very beginnings of a divorce.

Please can you advise me on the following information that he is telling me, and your thoughts and opinions are very much appreciated….

My Ex had a house that was sold to him at a cheap price by his parents, his parents owned the property, and sold the property to Graham and his brother for £50,000, (£25,000 Each… sorry to state the obvious, approx 15 yrs ago.)….
I moved in with My Ex, and his brother moved in with his girlfriend, so Graham and I bought his brother out and took on the remaining mortgage together, in joint names. We had joint bank accounts and we both paid in to the mortgage jointly.
4yrs later we moved to a bigger property, using the equity of the sale money from
Old property as a down payment for out new property……again, all done jointly.

Now that we have very sadly split up, Graham is saying to me that he has sought professional advice and that he has been told that because his previous house was his inheritance that he is entitled to 75% of the profit when we sell.

Because I am a fully independent working woman, he says I am entitled to very little from the sale of the house as he initially had a house…..his inheritance…..

I paid jointly on the mortgage on previous house and their was no gift benefit to Graham…..so was it not equally owned and therefore should be shared.
Since his parents have not died and are still very much alive can be counted as inheritance.
Presumably their new home is. ?

We have been together for 15yrs, married for 5, and I am a high earner
His parents bought a bigger home when my Ex bought their house.
I am self employed
My Ex is being Greedy, I am not asking for any of his pensions or life savings, what I am asking him is that if our house is valued at 400,000, I will give him 200,000 to buy him out, and he is not accepting this as he says he has put
more in due to his INHERITANCE!..
Surly if his parents are still alive it cannot be classed as inheritance??
His Parents never made any special document, or a sort of grant to say that this is sold to him below market share on condition that blah blah blah
SO is it not a normal house Sale …
We both took out a mortgage in joint names both had names on mortgage and deeds of the first house.

I assume their are no children, so tell him to dream on, its nearly allways a 50/50 basis of ALL total assests in pot to begin with, so do check/count up on all assets no matter how you feel. take your total pot then take away all debts from that pot and your at the beginging of =shares.

WOW.. thanks for that!!!!..... Brill info ! No children, no debts, I only want to be fair, and only want 50 / 50.. no more no less...

I hate to put a damper on things but I reckon he is going to argue through sols that he wants £25k plus interest back.

So get ready for some legal argy bargy tallgirl.

A couple of important features to appreciate:
1. The Court will add the pre marital co hab to the marriage and a long marriage is 20 years +
Accordingly yours is nearly a long marriage. In long marriages it matters not if one party made a substantial extra contribution there will in all liklihood be an equal division of that asset.

Yes he will argue he has made a greater contribution if only because of the discount given by the parents to him and his brother.

It is, however, a false argument as you quite properly point out that you purchased his brothers share at arms length years ago.

His threats are frankly just that...

If he has a substantial pension and other capital and you seek no part of that then he should thanks his lucky stars.

You solr will therefore consider tactics to put him under pressure e.g.

Make an OPEN OFFER which is only capable of acceptance within 28 days and after that indicate it can only be accepted on terms one of which will be he pays your costs on an indemnity basis.

After 28 days you can then start the financial process by filing Form A and seek all you can get.

The the sickner...an amended OPEN OFFER which offers less as it will take into account a fair division of pension and capital. That is the offer on the table at the FDR....the more he argues for more the DJ will probably see him as a greedy plonker and he will be put under pressure to settle...and if you have to move your position you are seen as reasonable by agreeing to the offer you made in the first place.

Hope this helps

Hello!

My Ex tells me that he has sought professional advise on this, so why do you think he would of been told by a Solicitor this rubbish???..... Would a Solicitor worth his or her weigh, actually say this ??? or do you think it is more likey that My Ex has been chatting to one of his
In Bred, Brain Dead buddies down the local!

Thanks

Helen

I suspect the solicitor was at the bar...for a long time!!!

If it is one of his brain dead buddies he's probably not telling the full story

i.e. Married only 5 years..and I bought the house which I put 50% in her name...

then a different scenario arises:)

He may have an inexperianced solicitor!

Hopefully the FDR will be before an experianced full time DJ who would tell him the facts of life.