My son's wife says no way would a court order her to sell marital home, is this true?

[Vitamin33]

Hello all and thank you for any replies and pointers

My son and his wife separated in January. They have a 14-month old daughter. They married in 2013 and bought a house in 2015. The equity in the house is about £130k. Wife has offered my son £40k and said that's the most she's willing to give him, and that if he baulks she will get a Mesher order and he won't see a penny until baby is 18 years old. My son is currently renting and needs to build a new life and get a permanent home. Wife's valuations of house were on the low side so my son got two valuations done as well, with wife present, and both were quite a lot higher, eg between £400K and £425K versus £380K. The £130K equity figure is based on a sale price of £400K. My son has said he would accept £50K but wife said he can forget it because she wants to keep the house (which is a four-bed three-bathroom semi with driveway for three cars) and that £40k is all she can afford. My son would prefer the house to be sold as that would achieve accurate amounts and enable a cleaner split of monies, but wife won't hear of it. Child access is another potential problem; my son has pushed hard for access and sees his daughter three times a week, twice at marital home, and one day he takes her back to his house. But he wants to have her overnight at least one night a week, but is treading carefully as wife has threatened to restrict access, because he was, kid you not, 15 mins late bringing baby home, due to a problem with car seat and a bit of traffic and wife flew off the handle and issued a warning that access would be cut if he did it again. Baby dotes on her dad and loves to be with him. My son pays child maintenance. My son has his own business and works hard. Wife is a sound engineer and earns very good money, more than my son. Baby goes to nursery three days a week and a relative looks after her one other day. Sorry for such a long post, but main question is whether a court is likely, as wife claims, to rule in her favour and say she is entitled to stay in what is a very big house, essentially at my son's expense. He is going to get a solicitor, but has waited in the hope they could sort things out amicably as he doesn't have money to throw away.

[Amethyst]

£40k is 30% of the equity - so presumably she is basing her offer on the assumption a court would award her 70% (of the £130k equity) due to her having the child living with her ( which isn't an unlikely award) Worth your son going to get some face to face advice as any deposit paid, mortgage payments, contributions to households etc will all need taking into account to work out what might be awarded and if he can agree out of court it will save them both the costs of court processes which could easily eat up that £10k he's currently arguing over. If she buys him out for the £40k he would need to come off the mortgage - which would leave him free to restart - but can she afford the remaining mortgage on her own?

[Vitamin33]

Hello all and thank you for any replies and pointers

My son and his wife separated in January. They have a 14-month old daughter. They married in 2013 and bought a house in 2015. The equity in the house is about £130k. Wife has offered my son £40k and said that's the most she's willing to give him, and that if he baulks she will get a Mesher order and he won't see a penny until baby is 18 years old. My son is currently renting and needs to build a new life and get a permanent home. Wife's valuations of house were on the low side so my son got two valuations done as well, with wife present, and both were quite a lot higher, eg between £400K and £425K versus £380K. The £130K equity figure is based on a sale price of £400K. My son has said he would accept £50K but wife said he can forget it because she wants to keep the house (which is a four-bed three-bathroom semi with driveway for three cars) and that £40k is all she can afford. My son would prefer the house to be sold as that would achieve accurate amounts and enable a cleaner split of monies, but wife won't hear of it. Child access is another potential problem; my son has pushed hard for access and sees his daughter three times a week, twice at marital home, and one day he takes her back to his house. But he wants to have her overnight at least one night a week, but is treading carefully as wife has threatened to restrict access, because he was, kid you not, 15 mins late bringing baby home, due to a problem with car seat and a bit of traffic and wife flew off the handle and issued a warning that access would be cut if he did it again. Baby dotes on her dad and loves to be with him. My son pays child maintenance. My son has his own business and works hard. Wife is a sound engineer and earns very good money, more than my son. Baby goes to nursery three days a week and a relative looks after her one other day. Sorry for such a long post, but main question is whether a court is likely, as wife claims, to rule in her favour and say she is entitled to stay in what is a very big house, essentially at my son's expense. He is going to get a solicitor, but has waited in the hope they could sort things out amicably as he doesn't have money to throw away.

Thank you, Amethyst. I agree, no point paying solicitors if it can be avoided but agree also that he needs to speak to a solicitor. H

[Vitamin33]

£40k is 30% of the equity - so presumably she is basing her offer on the assumption a court would award her 70% (of the £130k equity) due to her having the child living with her ( which isn't an unlikely award) Worth your son going to get some face to face advice as any deposit paid, mortgage payments, contributions to households etc will all need taking into account to work out what might be awarded and if he can agree out of court it will save them both the costs of court processes which could easily eat up that £10k he's currently arguing over. If she buys him out for the £40k he would need to come off the mortgage - which would leave him free to restart - but can she afford the remaining mortgage on her own?

PS she said she could afford mortgage if she limits his payment to £40K, but not otherwise.

[Amethyst]

She'd be taking on the whole mortgage and adding £40k on to it ( to pay to him )... so she'd still have £90k equity but would have to afford a £310k mortgage ( assuming mortgage is currently £270k ) If she could afford it then fine ( if he accepts £40k from the £130k equity of course) .... and there's no benefit to selling the house to get a smaller one - his position would be the same either way - other than long term affordability for her. However depending what went in to it originally it may not be split 70/30 in her favour so thats the bit he needs advice on. If he paid the deposit to enable purchase of the house and paid the full mortgage for the last 5 years for example, then she shouldn't be looking at anythng like 70%.... but if she's paid everything up till now, she might be looking at a larger share.... it very individual circumstances based what a court would order, hence needing a face to face.

If he does end up agreeing to that then he should get a financial arrangements consent order drawn up to make it a clean break ( so future earnings/pensions/inheritance can't be gone after later ). There's likely other debts, joint and individual, car, utilities, savings and what not that want sorting out too - so it really is worth going to see someone, then possibly considering mediation to help get financial arrangements AND child arangements order drawn up ( he wants to keep child arrangements arguments entirely separate from any financial arrangements arguments though - ie. never make paying child maintenance/mortgage reliant on contact etc )

[Vitamin33]

Very helpful, Amethyst, thank you very much.