trying to get a fair financial settlement

It is usual to agree a percentage of the equity at the time of the trigger.

It is also usual for whoever lives there to pay the whole mortgage themselves so she shouldn''t be using this as an argument for receiving more.

You may not be paying any of the mortgage but equally she isn''t paying you rent for your share of the house while she has sole use of it.

Obviously neither of you knows how much this will be as it will depend on what happens with house prices and whether or not it is a repayment mortgage.

If your wife still has (a lot of) debt then that has also got to be factored into any financial settlement.

I think you might need some specialist advice on how to financially uncouple yourself from her and keep a claim on assets ahead of any other creditors when the time to sell the house comes.

It must be a very hard situation to deal with.

Without my agreement she has converted the mortgage to an interest only mortgage, she forged my signature. She did this to reduce the payments and make it more affordable.
I know what she did was illegal and the mortgage company are now aware of her activities.

Her inability to handle money and to rack up debt was the main factor in me leaving, again at the risk of sounding harsh I don''t see why I should be held responsible for her debts, some of which were accrued after I left. Especially when I took some of hers and paid them myself in order to make life easier for her.

I dearly I wanted to do this without having to get solicitors involved and so incur further costs, but it seems that this is not possible .