Any Help Appreciated!! (Dont know were to turn?)

Hello all. firstly, cannot beleive i have found this forum/website, it's like a saving grace. My story is this, My wife has been living with her mum after telling me there's no love or that she doesnt love me anymore. Apart from the hurt and upset we are still communicating and are talking about the way forwards for divorce. I feel like i'm treading water but sinking slowly and just want some advice. We have a mortgage of £125k and have about £14,500 equity based on todays market value. I want to keep the house but i'm not sure what or how to go about doing it. I also have a car loan of £16k. Would it be more beneficial to deduct the equity owing to me (£7220)from the property and pay off some of the car loan, therfore reducing it to £9000 and then adding that to the mortgage? I'm i likely to get a mortgage on a yearly salary of £26k. Cannot work out what mortgage i'll need.
I understand if this is all to much for anyone to read or respond to but just want some advice from maybe someone in the same or simialr situation.
Thanks for reading this.

Regards Pete:blush:

So sorry that you find yourself in this huge boat with so many of us.

You need to get some advice, legally, I would suggest.
When my husband left me and our 2 yr old a year ago he was at first all guilty and wanted to talk. All I asked for was the house and some maintanence for our son, didn't ask for his pension or savings or private work money. He very quickly became nasty as he was seeing another woman who has experience in breaking up marriages, mine was number 3, and it took me over a year and many, many solicitors letters to finally get what I had been asking for all along. The legal advice just gave me a heads up on what to "fight" for.
So although things are apparently amicable at the moment you need to know where you stand legally so that you know what is reasonable to ask for and how the law stands in splitting the finances.
Whatever the result it is only money and over a year down the line and nearly divorced, I have finally recouped everything that I lost materially, and I have, by staying dignified and refusing to argue or shout kept my self respect and that is priceless.
Good Luck keep us updated.

I cannot even begin to help you here without more information.

(a) How long you have been married
(b) Your respective ages
(c) Any disabilities of yourself or your wife.
(d) Crucially, whether you have dependent children and their ages.
(e) Does your wife work and if so, what is her approximate salary.

Sorry about that but without this information neither I not anyone else would know where to start.

Mike 100468

mike100468 wrote:

I cannot even begin to help you here without more information.

(a) How long you have been married
(b) Your respective ages
(c) Any disabilities of yourself or your wife.
(d) Crucially, whether you have dependent children and their ages.
(e) Does your wife work and if so, what is her approximate salary.

Sorry about that but without this information neither I not anyone else would know where to start.

Mike 100468

Mike, so sorry for the lack of info. In answer to your questions. A Have been married for 2yrs 2mths
B I'm 40 & my wife is 34
C No Disabilities of either party
D No Children
E My wife works full time and salary is approx £21k P/A.

Hope this helps

Regards Pete

Hmmmm, the good news is that you look to me as though you are in Clean Break territory - short marriage, no children, earnings too close and marriage too short for spousal maintenance to be likely to be a factor. So my guess is that you could have a nice clean uncomplicated divorce which shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg - and believe me, many posters on this site would love that !

But let's look at the house. I assume it's in joint names, and if I'm right, that means both of you have signed the mortgage and your wife remains liable on her mortgage covenant even if the property is transferred into your name. That is, unless you can persuade your mortgage lender to release her from her obligations under the mortgage.

I may have missed some great truth, but if you get the house, aren't you going to have to buy your wife out ? A 50/50 split doesn't seem all that unreasonable, so you have to find £7250 or thereabouts - would that not have to be added to the mortgage ? So where's the money to reduce your car loan going to come from ? And is it sensible to take out an extra loan at a time of falling property prices ? especially if there's only one income and not two ?

Pete, my friend, I'm a cautious old sod, but that is because 40 years' observation of the British property market has made me that way. Personally I did rather well out of it and managed to repair the damage caused by a financially disastrous divorce 25 years ago. On the limited information I have, yours ought to be much less painful, but be careful you don't over-commit yourself.

Mike

Mike, firstly thanks so much for the excellent detailed information and the speed in which you replied, i'm astonished. Cautious old sod you may be,(your words not mine!) but what you explained makes perfect sense to me.Your right about the car loan, i didnt think it through. It was all abit much for me today as it was the first time my wife and i met to discuss divorce and still hurting but trying to yet pick myself up, it's very upsetting. I also went to the CAB today for some general advice on divorce. We both dont have lot of spare funds so to keepcosts down would be a real bouns. I also didn't realise about the mortgage covenant, it is in joint names i will approach my mortgage lender about that, thanks.
Mike, have you any idea about solicitors costs? I was going to draught an agreement with regards the house and items in it and then have a solicitor go over it and make it legal for us both. How much of an involvement do solicitors have if it's an uncomplicated divorce, or is that down to us?
Sorry for all the questions but it's a minefield out there.
Once again, i can only thank you for the way in which you have communicated to me. look forwards to chatting again.

Regards Pete

Pete

All Mike's points are very relevant

One of the things I would observe if I was looking at matters
was the face you have an inordinately high car loan for your
salary

How long has that been going for it may be be prudent to ditch the car
and the loan and buy a cheap but reliable car and those savings will
self finance the transfer of equity

Anor Q'n is the mortgage on an ordinary repayment basis?
Need to know:
Term
Rate
Payment

A common error made by people is the solution to cases can be found
in knowing your mortgage market

The drafting of an agreement is not too complex

Most County Courts produce pro forma the solrs use-
The earliest the order could be made is on pronouncement of the D/N
It would take 3-4 months to get that so sometimes if you both
want to get on with it the trnsfer can be dealt with then

Now a couple of points re timing:

Base rate redcn yesterday

Most likely anor in Feb and say
late Spring so any remortgage best left till then so aim to get to D/N by late Spring/Summer

That way your buyout will be cheaper

If house prices reduce further have a joint valn then and the buyout will be cheaper again.

Remember the Crt looks at assets and debts

Equity of FMH +Cars+Savings - Debts-Car Loan-Mortage+ Pot
divide by 2

What about Pension
My guess is it will be irrelevant as a short mrge -similar salaries

If her Pension lower still likely irrelevant as Crt looks at Pen during marriage

One impt point did you cohabit before marriage as Crt will + this to length of mrge if cohab "seemlessly" moves into marriage without a break

From the facts I have to say it looks that a settlement should be poss to work out swiftly