Claim to house

Hi,
I am looking for some advice on behalf of my aunt. 17 years ago she met her now husband. They were both divorced with children from previous marriages. At first my aunt''s husband moved into her rented house with her and her children. After they had been in a relationship together for about 18 months he bought a house and invited her and her children to live with him.

However before moving in he asked her to accompany him to his bank to sign some papers. Apparently prior to his relationship with my aunt he had cohabited with a women for about 5 years, they had bought a house together but he had lost it in the settlement. According to my aunt''s husband the bank would only give him a mortgage if my aunt signed papers to agree that if they separated she would not make a claim on the house. My aunt signed these papers- 17 years ago. 7 years after signing the papers my aunt married this man- they have been married for 10 years. During that time they ran a business together (legal partners in the business)- obviously money they made paid for the mortgage.

My aunt was never given a copy of the papers signed and cannot really remember the content of the agreement in any real detail. She has recently been going through some difficulties in her marriage and her greatest fear is that if they separated she would have no claim to her home- can this be legal? They have been together 17 years, married for 10 of them and she signed that agreement BEFORE she married him!

These papers are not worth the paper they are written on. This kind of agreement is almost certainly nullified by what is effectively a 17 year marriage.

The papers will probably have been to say that if the bank re-possessed the house for non-payment of the mortgage she wouldn''t claim squatters rights.

I was asked to sign similar when I still lived at home and my Mother took out a mortgage.

It doesn''t mean she has no claim to the asset.