Severance of joint ownership

[jamesi85]

My mum and dad got divorced in 2007 but my dad moved out in 2005 and stopped contributing to the mortgage at that point and no agreement was made about the house.

My understanding is that my dad is only entitled to 50% of the house's value at the time of divorce, how do I get that stipulated in the ownership severance so that doesn't go down as 50/50 ownership?

[lgfa92]

The default presumption, is that in the absence of any agreement otherwise, that the property would be split 50:50 but the courts could alter this presumption if it is challenged. If there was severance under s36 then the 50:50 presumption would apply unless the parties had agreed to a different split.

Are they in agreement that the split will be 50:50 ?

[jamesi85]

Hi, No, they are working on the advise that he will get 50% of the value of the home at the time he stopped contributing to the mortgage.
I have to assume the figures at the moment but let's say the house was worth £150k in 2005 and it's now worth £280k, he would get 50% of 150k (75k) which is approx 26% of £280k so we're looking at roughly a 74/26 split. Do we just get this in writing from both parties and proceed with the normal severance of ownership?

[lgfa92]

Hi, No, they are working on the advise that he will get 50% of the value of the home at the time he stopped contributing to the mortgage.
I have to assume the figures at the moment but let's say the house was worth £150k in 2005 and it's now worth £280k, he would get 50% of 150k (75k) which is approx 26% of £280k so we're looking at roughly a 74/26 split. Do we just get this in writing from both parties and proceed with the normal severance of ownership?

To do it fully would usually need a Deed of Trust to ensure it's all tied up as to who will get what share of the property - I'd advise getting a solicitor to do it property as there's huge amounts of money at risk if it's not done correctly.

[jamesi85]

Thank you, we will go to a solicitor. Also, if the outstanding mortgage is 100k now, based on the %'s i mentioned before, would we pay the mortgage back and then split the remaining funds by those %'s?

[lgfa92]

Thank you, we will go to a solicitor. Also, if the outstanding mortgage is 100k now, based on the %'s i mentioned before, would we pay the mortgage back and then split the remaining funds by those %'s?

Settlement of the mortgage and how that affects the shares should be discussed as part of the arrangement.