??? Full write-up. Here now. Property settlement still looming !!!

[lubank]

The X -wife walked out on me, & having been divorced over 12yrs. ago. With no financial settlement been done. At the time, there was negative equity in the property. Arrears on the mortgage & every thing else. Over the years I have sorted all arrears clear. The value of the house is �110.000 above the mortgage. I was married & divorced at this property before, & lived on my own before marrying this X-wife. The property at present is in joint names on deeds & mortgage. I want to transfer to my sole name. As this situation happened over 12yrs ago has she got any claim to it., at all now , because of the negative equity at the time. surely I am not the only man with this still looming over their head. have been looking around for other info to help me, but no joy as yet. Does anyone know of any new laws out ! ! !

[MustafaTickl]

You cannot remove your ex on your own, you need her consent. If your ex is named on the Deeds or on the Register at the Land Registry as a tenant in common or joint tenant with you then the presumption is that she owns 50% and that is that !!! There is nothing that you can do about it. If she is joint tenant and you die she gets the lot !!! That is avoidable if you unilaterally severe joint tenancy and declare tenancy in common (she cannot object) then you can will your half to whom you like or even sell it if you can find a buyer. But so can she with her half !! Otherwise you are going to have to buy her out - it is going to cost you !! Time, mortgage and all of the other circumstances you state have absolutely no bearing on it whatsoever. You cannot increase the mortgage and hide the cash, it requires her signature in agreement !! Perhaps she has a Restriction (used to be called a Charge) placed on the property, in which case you cannot sell it withoit settling with her !! You will have to pay up and look big !!.

[innocenti]

There are some things which will be taken to account though. You will be given "credit" for all your payments that you have made towards the mortgage.

My husband went to court with his ex over the house and this is what happend. Just say the equity in the house is worth �20,000, you would be entitled to 50% each, so �10,000 each. But any payment you have made would be taken into account, so say you paid �10,000 in payments, this would drop the equity in the house to �10,000, so it would be �5,000 each.

Obviously I cannot guarantee this would happen but it did in my husbands case. His ex was given half credits towards the payments on the mortgage. If you have made the payments for the last 12 years it would dramatically reduce the amount of equity and the amount your ex could claim.

You need to see a solicitor, but you never know, your ex may not want to go down this route and could be happy to have her name taken off the mortgage.

[MustafaTickl]

And then there's the rent. Over the last twelve years you are bound to have had people staying there and she is entitled to half of the notional or actual rent for that !! And the fact that you have enjoyed using her half of the property for yourself for twelve years will add to the calculation for her !!

[innocenti]

When my ex went to court last month the judge wouldnt allow the rent argument. The only thing that was allowed was his ex's half credits for the mortgage payments.

[innocenti]

Sorry meant to say when my husband went to court, not my ex!