Home Rights Charge on title

I believe it is a non matrimonial asset as the property was bought in 2002, they never lived in it together as man and wife, and they had such a short marriage of only 2 years and 6 months from Mar 2006 till Sep 2008, i thought that non matrimonial assets/properties were only really considered ''matimonial assets'' if the marriage spread over a long perod of time?

but i read that if it is a short marriage (2 years 7 months) than it can be considered as non matrimonial asset/property. She never contributed to it and they never lived in it together whislt married it was always rented out and they lived in married quarters

Whether you believe it or not, it is a matrimonial asset, and the law will consider it as such. It is only in Scotland that pre-marriage property that was never put into joint names, is considered non-matrimonial (I think!). In England, everything owned prior to marriage goes into the pot.

That does not necessarily mean that it comes out of the pot in 50/50 proportions, or even that she will get any money out of it at all. It all depends on the circumstances. Having a kid together usually overrules the "short marriage" thing, but she has managed just fine without he house for 4 years, so that will count against her. But I am sorry to say you do not have the "silver bullet" that you seem to think you do. She DOES have a claim on the property.

Everything in joint and sole names forms the matrimonial pot under consideration. The assets are then shared according to the checklist of factors set out in s25 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The duration of the the relationship (marriage and possibly cohabitation before marriage) is only one of the factors and can be trumped by a needs case, particularly if there are any children.

oh well it looks like we are screwed then! Not good when im due to give birth in 8 weeks!!
he is in the process of financial settlement but we have a buyer for the property which i guess will now fall through if we cant sell because of this home rights notice on the title

If you are keen to sell ASAP it might be worth asking his ex''s solicitor if it can be sold and the profits held by them until finances are sorted out.

that is an idea, but we are also in the process of buying a property, how would that work without the equity to put down on the house?