additional property

Hi can anyone help. If we have the marital home with mortgage o/s of 320k equity 120k but also another property bought together with 35k equity mortgage of 112K - would the two just be offset in a financial settlement ie: I would get the martial home as have 3 children under 8 he gets the 2 bed flat, even though the equity share is unequal? Would this be fair as he would also need to pay SM in order for me to stay in the marital home with the children? Have no idea where to start with the negotiations.

Spousal maintenance depends on the ability of the payer to afford the payments. Your husband will have to pay child maintenance anyway and he will have his housing costs to meet, wherever he lives. My immediate reaction is that the other place is not large enough to allow staying access for the children.

Yes, you''re obviously right, he would get the flat, but he may, for all I know, want to sell it and buy or rent somewhere else and that would be his decision, I guess.

In the short term, and while the children are still dependent, the likelihood is that you will have the chance to live there and the fact that there is an inbalance in the equity is regarded as less important as the need of the children for a home.

One possible way of dealing with this is to give your ex a charge on the property, for, say, 33% of the net proceeds when it is eventually sold. The exact percentage is negotiable of course but it means that he has an interest in the house which he can''t realise for a while. There is no need for you to feel guilty about this, it goes on all the time. You should be aware that there could be capital gains tax implications - for him, not for you - with such an arrangement.

LMM