Is this a good offer re marital home?

Hi there

Forgive me if this turns out long - H and I in the process of getting divorced due to his adultery.

He moved out of the home back in September and we''ve been having some fairly major fights about money....

Quick background:
H bought house literally the day we met (well, he signed on the dotted line!)
I moved in shortly after. We married and were together for 11 years. In this time the house value went up from 80K to currently 170K. Despite my requests, he remained the sole name on both the mortgage and teh deeds. Bills were also in his name although i contributed to those. Both work full time - he in a job which pays about 25% more than me so my payments were always 25% less towards household etc. He worked long hours, I restricted mine (my job is more flexible) so that I could pick up the slack in childcare.

He therefore paid the bulk of the finances and of course the house.

I have had pretty much sole responsibility for our two young children since the day he left - he sees them a couple of times a week but at the marital home when I''m not there.

Finances are such that there is approx £76k left on the mortgage which is to run for another 10 years. It is an interest only mortgage. There are endowments worth 40K.

We had agreed verbally that we would sell the house and split the equity (percentages were undecided). Two days ago he suggested teh following:

I keep the house and take over the mortgage.
I get 20K (ie half) of the endowment payout
When our youngest leaves home I give him 20K
He pays me maintenance.

Initially this seemed too good to be true but I''m beginning to wonder whether something else is there that I''m missing. Presumably the whole reason for having the endowments is to cover the cost of the property - so am I going to have to find an extra 20K to sort that at the end of teh mortgage?

I''ve never been a mortgage owner - if I get left with this house as mine (I don''t want it by the way, I have hated it with a passion since the day we moved in!) then presumably I will have to remortgage or whatever in order to sell the house and move somewhere new - I won''t then get any benefits of being a first time buyer will I?

Would an alternative proposition be that we sell the house and I get to keep the equity (about 100k) and still agree to the other bits of the plan although I suppose if he needed the endowment thing then I wouldn''t get the 20k?

Argh - sorry it''s going all waffly now - just can''t get my head around it.

If anyone clever in these matters (and by clever I cleverer than me!) can shed any light or offer any advice I would be very grateful.

I have made an appointment with my solicitor but he''s so busy, it''s a fortnight until I can see him.

Thanks so much
B

brodgebrodge wrote:

I keep the house and take over the mortgage.
I get 20K (ie half) of the endowment payout
When our youngest leaves home I give him 20K
He pays me maintenance.

OK so the figures you''re looking at are, that you keep approx £94k of the equity in the house, and give him all of the endowment (£20k now and £20k later).

It''s an interest only mortgage, so yeah, in 10 years the bank are going to say "where is our money please". Your options then would be:
1) Sell the house
2) Take out another mortgage
3) Pay off the mortgage capital from savings

Obviously (2) is only an option if in 10 years time you are in a position to borrow that amount. And (3) is only an option if you can raise the £76k in 10 years. You don''t give your respective salaries or how much maintenance he is going to pay you so I don''t know if either of these are realistic or not?

Assuming "average" figures for these, I think his offer is pretty good for you. You''d be getting £96k, he would be getting £40k (£20k of which is delayed by 10+ years), and you''d be getting maintenance. I can''t imagine a much better outcome for you, actually.

Would an alternative proposition be that we sell the house and I get to keep the equity (about 100k) and still agree to the other bits of the plan although I suppose if he needed the endowment thing then I wouldn''t get the 20k?

I think you would not get as good a deal that way. The benefit of you keeping the house is that you can claim a need for more of the equity, to house the kids. If the house is to be sold then he would have a bigger claim to the equity.

I think your best option would be to accept the above offer that he has made, and then when the house is yours, you can either sell or move or stay, as you like.