Housing options following separation

Even my solicitor is now saying that the other side being on Legal Aid are really dragging their feet now and asking irrelevant questions!

Hmmm. Well, registering a pending land action is certainly a course of action which is open to him. I wouldn''t worry too much about it, to be honest. Like a matrimonial homes notice, it''s intended to prevent you selling or mortgaging the marital home, but as you don''t intend to do either of these things, I don''t see you are all that disadvantaged.

As to what you say about the transfer to your children, I think he would have a great deal of difficulty in making that stick. This sort of thing does go on, but it usually happens when divorce is in the air, and in your case it was 2004. How can he argue nine years later that it was done to defeat his financial claims when no divorce was pending? Well, he can argue it, I guess, but I can''t see the argument succeeding.

The thing that is interesting me is, why all this sudden frenetic burst of activity now ?

It''s this legal aid business. As from some date in every early April all legal aid in family proceedings will be withdrawn. What I''m not sure about is whether his legal aid certificate, having been granted, will continue until the conclusion of the case. But if his legal aid is to be withdrawn ( and I don''t know, honestly ) then this starts to make sense ; his solicitor is tying up the loose ends while legal aid is still available for it.

LMM

I understood that if he had a legal aid certificate in place it would continue. We have a First Financial Hearing in court next week General Form of Order - Ancillary Relief, this will be the third time in court and so far nothing has been resolved. I have paid £400 for a barrister without other costs I do not know how to keep financing this and I did take your advice and paid the mortgage up to date. My solicitor has said that the legal aid certificate is really being milked here.
Thank you for giving me some hope here because he really does not deserve to win here.

cheers mate - this is very useful. just found out my wife has got engaged so perhaps that will help getmeoffthemortgage not holding my breath though as apparently he has a rotter of a credit rating...

Thanks for a great article it has really helped me to re evaluate my situation.

I have continued to pay a little over half the mortgage on our FMH for the last year and my solicitor (brethertons fixed price and Consent Order) has just sent the consent order through.

I have offered to take only 40% of the equity in the property in lieu of the fact that my pension will be slightly more than hers and that we leave each others pensions alone.

However, I have been struggling financially since the CSA payments increased and also since moving to a larger rental property in order that my kids can stay with me overnight through the week. (She remains parent with care)

I left and am divorcing because of her unreasonable behaviour which was affecting my mental health impacting on my ability to maintain my job. She has since forced me to hand over the keys to the property and excluded me completely from it, it was this that triggered someone advising me that if she has excluded me from the property that she could not expect me to continue the mortgage contribution.

Even though I would still be liable under law, because of my financial difficulties and increasing debts due to the costs of trying to maintain another home and travel to work, my priority should be maintaining the child maintainence and that I would be within my rights to write to her informing her that I will no longer contribute to the mortgage having been excluded from the property but would maintain my interest in the equity based on its current market value.

Not having to pay the contribution will certainly make life much better for me and allow me to claw myself back to a stable financial position, otherwise I could end up in the bankruptcy position, but I am nervous about putting this into action.

Would welcome some words of encouragement or warning based on other people''s experience!

Many thanks.

Well, I am glad you found my article helpful, that of course was what I hoped it would be.
As you say, your basic obligation is to pay child maintenance and that is calculated by reference to the statutory formula.
The problem with not paying anything towards the mortgage is tha risk that the house could be re-possessed and that benefits nobody.
What you have heard is broadly correct in that, if the wife ( sorry but it usually is the wife ) can''t afford to pay the full expenses of the house with what resources she has or might acquire, then it is not likely that she would be '' awarded '' the house. However you could potentially be contributing indirectly through the medium of child/ spousal maintenance.
One thing which you need to look at is your wife''s entitlement to benefits and in particular , tax credits. It can sometimes happen that, as a result of the separation, your income is no longer taken into account in the calculation, and this can result in higher benefits, and this, of course, helps both of you. I always advise a full benefit check in such circumstances, and you can benefit indirectly, because, if she has more cash, he need for financial support from you is reduced.
What happens to the house is obviously a very important issue, but it is not the only one.
LMM

Finally another court case this will be the 6th and still no resolution just loads of costs for me and none for him on legal aid. Both children now 24 and 27 are invited to attend the FDRA and they are recommended to get independant legal advice. Their father is still getting legal aid even for this although I transferred the land over 9 years ago, this cannot be right. I have emailed legal aid but got no response except an acknowlegement of my e-mail! My daughter is a single mother unemployed and my son is in the army trying to buy a house with his girlfriend they cannot afford a top notch barrister for this case. The land is probably only worth about £60,000 anyway but their father is determined to make them suffer because they always took my side against his violence and bullying towards them and me. I do not know what to advise them to do.... Any opinions please would be very gratefully received!
My court costs alone without my feeble solicitor are already £20,000 to date.