seperation

[sandcastle]

please can some-one help. My son has just told us his relationship is over with his girlfriend with whom he took to live in his house approx. 4yrs ago. He put her name on the mortgage and now finds that she has lied to him all along and is in dreadful debt. She says she is paying to a debt consolidation company, but he cant trust her to be telling the truth. he has been advised to get her name off the motgage and get her to sign a seperation notice. But this may alert her to the fact she may be entitled to a part of the house and force him to sell it. My question is, can he protect himself, knowing that now he has cleared some of the debt, because he remortgaged to do so. She could walk away, with him having solved her problem, and still claim some of the house. Can she claim half, even if she has only been paying half of it for approx 4 yrs. He has been there 10 or 12 yrs. thank you for helping if you can. I forgot to say, it is entirely her debt alone, he knew nothing about it.

[wendilla]

You will need someone with more expert advice than I can give you but this is what happened with my son. House was in both names (not married) lived together for approx 2 years. Split up. Girlfriend was only entitled to half of what the house had made in value in that 2 years so that is what my son did.I think he paid her �2000 and he kept the house on.

[bednobs]

it seems strange that a mortgage co would give her a mortgage if she is in such debt - they look at everything and scrutinise it all. if she really did pay half the mortgage at the time, she should be entitlied to half of the appreciation n that 4 years if there has been any. If he dosent have enough money to pay it to her then yes i suppose he will have to sell the house. TBH it's his look out he took on more debt to get her out of hers, just a lesson learnt i suppose

[Eve]

Is the mortgage in both names? It is strange that the mortgage lender didn't pick up on her debt.

Has it accrued after the mortgage was taken out or was the info on the application form less than honest?

In order to put the house in his sole name he would need the lender's consent

He could try and work out the appreciation in the 4 years she has lived there and try and work out a fair amount bearing in mind what she has contributed or not, how much of her debt he has paid off etc... and offer that they sort it privately and she goes away with something towards her debts.

The marketplace is not a great place at the moment for good deals on mortgages.

He could ask the mortgage lender (to see if he could keep a decent rate) what the procedure would be to put the mortgage in his sole name, fees, admin, whether they would insist on solicitors being used which would be likely to involve her being advised to take independant legal advice.

[auntsallyann]

just as a matter of interest, if she did agree to a settlement figure without taking indepedant legal advice, would she have any legal comeback, if she was to insist a few months later that she wanted some further equity,

[sandcastle]

thank you all very much for input. until I see him tomorrow, I dont have the answer to the queries you pose. i think his main worry is, can she claim half or 4years worth of total value or just equity? which may it be?

[bednobs]

what other type of value coud be counted in years except appreciation?