Hi,

Wife and I are divorcing, application is in, and we’re deciding how to divide assets, house, custody etc. We’ve been separated but living in the family home now for over a year (busy with 2 kids under 4!) and now she’s finally called it. She’s over us. So now stuff needs to get sorted. We are joint tenants on the mortgage, 50/50 ownership and deposit, I pay more mortgage and bills as the higher earner.

The situation:

Over the last 6 months or so, we’ve been slowly talking here and there about dividing everything and how our separate lives will work with our 2 young children. The verbal plan we had extremely loosely and vaguely ‘agreed’ on months ago, and the one she still thinks is happening albeit delayed, was…

Her proposal:

Keep the kids in the home near school to not disrupt them as much, she stays in the home with them especially as she would have more custody with the kids but also their school is local and her work is opposite their school, child custody (60/40 in her favour) agreed, I’ll pay child maintenance no problem, she keeps monthly child benefit, I move to my dads around half an hour away, she demonstrates to the mortgage lender that she can pay all bills and mortgage etc on her own over a timeframe of 6+ months then I get off mortgage. No equity payout either. As clean a break as can be for her to stay there.

Finances:

She works part time (£13k approx annually), I work full time (£46k approx annually), and we’ve agreed that she can keep the full monthly child benefit money herself, I’ll pay her the full child maintenance, alongside applying to her entitled hundreds of ££ in universal credit.

The issue:

Is our shared marital home, in which we both have a mortgage as joint tenants with 50/50 deposit and equal equity.

I can afford to buy her out in full (£70k hard cash), and have confirmation I can take on the mortgage in my name alone. She has been told by our broker that she cannot afford to do any of this, but possibly with a deferred equity payment to me and a sibling on the mortgage instead is my worry. I could literally be told to leave with no equity or other money to move forward with my kids when I have them.

She has stated she is wanting to stay in the home for the continuity for the kids, and their school and her workplace are local.

However, she can’t afford to stay here. I can. That then keeps the kids continuity, and she can move into a similar sized home with her parents (which is the next town over, 20 mins away, where she is all the time anyway and where her parents are for our existing childcare schedule).

Also, my sibling is potentially wanting to move into my dad’s spare room soon owing to personal matters. So that now means I don’t really have anywhere to go apart from renting, which means I’ll never be able to get a place for me and my kids that I’d feel they deserve.

It’s likely she will want to go to courts for decision on this. What do you think would happen if it did? Let me know if any other information is needed.

Appreciate any guidance or success stories of those of you in a similar position previously, before an initial solicitor call I have next week, thank you so much.