Has my mother a claim question

Hi,bit of an awkward one this but i will keep it simple.
My mother and father split up 30 years ago and she set up home with another bloke,they never divorced and it was just left that way.However my mother and father jointly own there original property which my father has lived in alone in all this time,they have allways kept in touch with each other and now the situation is that she needs to move back to live with my father as her partner has died and she has nowwhere to go as there house has been taken back buy an equity release company as they borrowed on it.

Has my mother any rights over the property as she has not lived there for 30 years even though her name is on the deeds?

Of moving back: no, after 30 years, not a cat''s chance in hell. The only way she could move back in is if your father invited her.

Of getting some kind of payment or money out of the property/divorce: yes. Although after living with another man for 30 years her claim to the property will be substantially reduced. To be honest your father would have been well advised to seek a divorce and financial settlement while she was living with someone else.

Hi thank you for your reply.
My father is a kind forgiving man(Mad maybe)they are in there 70,s so bit late to make an official divorce and seeing that they will be living together again in the same house dont think they can be doing with the stress.But surely after 3o years apart she maybe has forfieted any rights over the property if say he should die first maybe?

They will only be living back together in the same house if your father invites her to do so. If he is that kind and loving then she is very lucky.

If they are still formally married and co-own the house then she would have a claim if he died - how much of one would probably depend on the way the house is co-owned.

Best wishes,
Sadie

cavalino wrote:

in there 70,s so bit late to make an official divorce

Not at all.

and seeing that they will be living together again in the same house dont think they can be doing with the stress.

Then surely it is less stress for them to not live in the same home? Your father should tell your mother "no".

But surely after 3o years apart she maybe has forfieted any rights over the property if say he should die first maybe?

Not ALL rights. But yes by moving out for so long, your mother''s claim on the house will be greatly diminished, whether that claim comes from death or from divorce. But by allowing her to move back in, your father is restoring her claim right back up to 50%. If your mother were to move back in and initiate divorce proceedings then your father would be a LOT worse off, and he would have made a serious mistake.

The main reason i ask is that she has nowwhere else to go and he has lived alone in the whole 30 years she has been gone.My father is very soft but he has asked me to try and make sure she has no claim on the house should he die first.I suggested perhaps taking her name off of the deeds and leaving just my father on! or which he has said may be best is to transfer the property in myself and my brothers name.

No, that would not work.

The only way to guarantee she has no claim is to get a divorce and a Consent Order, and not to allow her to move back in.

By allowing her back, he is restoring her full spousal rights and her claim on the house will instantaneously shoot right back up to 50%. He should NOT allow her back unless they plan to reconcile the marriage. Even then he should tread extremely carefully.