Meshed order

Sorry, this has probably been done hundreds of times, but I''ve read other threads about mesh orders and I end up getting confused with other peolpe''s details.

I live in London, so house prices are still astronomical, our MH is a small three bed. Currently I''m not working as I have two children not yet in school. In four years time, I intend to return to full time work, but even then with a good wage of approx 38000, I would only just about be able to get a mortgage on my own to cover the mortgage we already have, I wouldn''t be able to get a mortgage to cover any extra payment to stbx. So would a meshere order work for me? Can I get a mesher ord, but not take over the mortgage for another 4 years? And I have seen somewhe it said that a mesher order doesn''t work well for people with young children, like me. But what are the alternatives? Short of being awarded 100% of the equity, I can''t see an alternative. (and no, I don''t think I should or would be given 100%!!!)


If I were to be given a mesher order now, and say in 4 years time I was actually able to get a job at a higher level, would I be able to change my mind and sell up immediately, giving stbx his share, or am I trapped in the house until the children are 18?

A Mesher is an order that states OH has to stay on the mortgage until a ''trigger point''.
This is most common when there isnt enough, or it isnt possibe for the person who remains in the FMH to take over the mortgage or afford it on their own.
If you have young children, and you cant or dont work, your ex may have to contribute for a time, but this is dependent on his ability to pay. His only LEGAL obligation until finanical settlement/agreement is child maint.
IF your ex can afford to help cover the mortgage, and its deemed that he should, in addition to the CM payments, then you could stay in the house/sell/ remortgage him off etc.
IF he doesnt make enough to be able to do this, then the only option is to sell, and for you to go into rented.
He needs housing ££ too so thats a big factor.
In my situation, i only contribut CM, but my ex can afford to pay the mortgage with benefits, lodger ££ and my CM. I will stay on the FMH mortgage until
-my youngest is 18
-she can buy me out or remortgage to release me
-she inherits and can pay off hte mortgage (most likely in our situation)
-she moves out for a period of longer than 3 months (then house is straight onto market for sale)
-she sells by choice
-she cohabits for longer than a year
-she remarries, if their then joint income cant remortgage it then goes on market

WHATEVER happens FIRST in that list.

your number one thing is if you can cover the mortgage on your own or if he makes enough to contribute spousal maintenance (or pays CM in lieu of this and you can cover the mortgage)
Its best to speak to CAB about this or have a free half hour with a solicitor.

Ok, so thee can be several triggers, that''s good. Coz believe it or not I don''t want to be financially dependent on him, so the sooner we could sell or I could buy him out the better.

He is currently paying half the mortgage (in addition to cm) and I am able to cover the rest. I know he isn''t legally obliged to, I also know he doesn''t pay it out of the goodness of his heart but because he sees it as covering his half of the debt and paint into his investment. He can afford it, he has been paying this the past 6 months while paying out rent, which is considerably more than the mortgage. If he suddenly decides he isn''t going to pay it any more though, I still have options, with his agreement we can change to interest only mortgage, which should bring the payments down to an amount I can just about cover, but dipping into savings.
In four years time I will easily be able to cover the mortgage, capital and interest. Its his share of the equity i can,t cover, and my mortgage plus my share of the equity won''t buy diddly squat in London. I thought a mesher meant I would have to remortgage in my name only, but from what you''re saying I wouldn''t remortgage, he would have to stay named on the mortgage? So in actual fact, a mesher order now wouldn''t change in four years time. just, assuming his goodwill had continued to pay for half the mortgage, I could just say I don''t need the extra help any more, thank you very much. Or, if we had switched to interest only, there would be no change.

Ok, more questions:
Can you have a mesher order if the mortgage is on interest only? If the mortgage was on interest only, would I have to change it back to capital and interest as soon as I was able to afford it?

I don''t think rented is an option, as it is more expensive to rent than our mortgage is. Ok, so I could use my share of equity to pay rent in the short term, but what am meant to do when that runs out, in a couple of years time? There isn''t a great deal of equity, about 60k, so a 50:50 split would see me with enough money to cover about 2 years rent.

(I''m being cheeky asking on here, I do have a solisitor and have just finished completing my form E, hopefully we can negotiate through solisitors without going to court.....but I hate not knowing what''s going to happen, and feel better if I know and understand the possible options, hence asking on here as if I ask my solisitor now she just says, wait until we,ve exchanged form e)

Mesher orders are not a good idea when the children are young. You are saying that in 14-15 years, you will sell the house and split the equity. That is a very long time away. It doesn''t make much sense to plan that far in the future - who knows what financial state you or he will be in by then? Plus for him, how much use is a Mesher order that will not pay out for 14-15 years? How is he supposed to live in the meantime? A Mesher order does not go anywhere to satisfying his housing needs. Mesher orders are not something that you would normally want to have. They are a last resort when there are no other options available.

Meshers have nothing to do with the mortgage. They are concerned with house ownership. These are 2 very different things. A Mesher says that when certain events happen, the house will be sold, and your ex will get X% of the equity. That has absolutely nothing to do with the mortgage. Even if you put the mortgage into your sole name, your ex will still be entitled to X% when the house is sold.

Usually there is a trigger which states that the house can be sold and the equity split in the agreed proportions at any time by the occupant''s choice.

Do you have any other suggestions for how I house myself and the kids then?coz unless I stay put, I simply can''t afford to buy in London on my Future wages. And I can''t afford rent once any savings run out.
He can afford to rent suitable housing for himself.

So, are you saying it,s likely he''ll be able to force a sale immediately? So much for stability for the children.

Is there any other assets that you could offset against the house.

So you keep the house and him his pension for example.

If you couldnt afford the mortgage at present but would in the near future, you could have a best endeavours clause include whereby he guarantees the mortgage until such time as you can release him.

No, we both have pensions. CETV are on ord, but I''m assuming they are more or less equal, as he has three (2 personal and 1 company) and has been paying in from a full time wage for 15 years. I have one, which I have been paying into for 8 or 9 years, though the last 3 years of that was from a part time wage. However, mine is a teachers pension, which I hear is a good one so for now, I''m assuming our individual pensions are more or less equal.

We both have fairly equal savings, but I''m already using mine to supplement living costs, while I am assuming he is using his in furnishing his flat. He does have two cars and a motorbike compared to my car, but not valuable enough to offset the equity in our house.

My problem is, that when I return to work I will be able to cover the mortgage, but I won''t be able to get a mortgage big enough to buy him out. So while I could release him from the mortage, I can''t give him anything towards the equity.

(house is valued at 225000, mortgage is 159000)