Parents Divorce 17 Years on *sigh*

[JackyT]

Hi LegalBeagles,

So I am posting a family situation that involves Mother and Father who divorced 17 years ago, and his partner of 16 years who has been cohabiting with. Apologies if this comes over as an agony aunt situation; I am acting mediator now after 16 years of peace....!

Court settlement on original divorce required £600 per month payment from father to mother until death or her finding a new partner. Important info for later.

Mother situation: 17 years of living a very simple life. Homeowner living alone in a basic house. Lives month to month in basic manner and maybe one holiday per year to Cornwall/Scotland. Basically making ends meet but not uncomfortable.*

Father situation: Bought a property after the divorce. Met a partner and then moved in with her maybe 15 years ago. Sold his property. After moving in they have moved two times and are now in their third cohabitating house. Along the way he has paid for various home improvements (extension, garden etc). Huge expensive houses... It seems that his partner is constantly on at him about the £400 monthly payment to my mother and it’s causing issues for them. In addition his pension is allegedly worth a lot less now than it was originally supposed to due to companies collapsing (think mothercare situation twice) but I can’t quantify how much. During the last 16 years they have been living the high life - *holidays around the world, cruises, golf, champagne.... the lot. Now there appears to be some pinch point which I expect is a combo of pension being smaller than originally planned and his partner nagging. As I understand from my father he has no stake in the house that he lives in (by that I mean - if his partner dies then he thinks that he will be homeless after a 3 month grace period or even she could kick him out.... the latter being the root cause of the next bit I expect - “stop payments to your ex wife or I will kick you out”). With that he has written to my mother to say that he wants to reduce/stop the monthly payment.*

My legal questions:

1 - the monthly payment can’t stop unless a court instructs it to be stopped or reduced is my understanding?

2 - without a solid cohabitation agreement does my father have any stake in the life and assets that he has been involved with during the last 17 years in the event of her kicking him out or her death?*

3 - considering the lifestyle gap between mother and father during the past 16 years; would this be a factor in any court judgement of the situation if this ends up going to court? (I ask because any observer would clearly see the round the world holidays as not living within their means so why should that effect my mothers monthly payment?)

4 - if this did go to court would the partners assets and their long term cohabitation be considered? How could it impact the ruling?

Long story and a real pain in my *** right now. I want to mediate the situation because they both can’t afford the legal fees of a legal process.































*

[Law Student 3]

I will look at the issue of the divorce court order payments first. Your father is not permitted to decrease the payment amount without the permission of the court. It is possible for the divorce settlement to be reopened and altered but this is in limited circumstances such as undue influence, fraud or a significant and unexpected event. Once the court has passed a financial settlement, as they did 17 years ago in this case, in the majority of cases it will be seen as final. On the other hand if your father does reduce the value of the payments, your mother can also attend court to enforce the order so she receives the correct payment. I am reluctant to provide advice on the approach of the court and the factors they may consider but from my research it seems clear that only in very limited circumstances will they change the court order.
Turning to the matter of whether your father has a property interest or stake in his current house, unfortunately unless his name is on the title deeds as a joint tenant or tenant in common, or he has contributed to the purchase price of the property, he is unlikely to have a property interest and be allowed to remain there. However, this is a grey area of law and the courts have in the past, considered many factors when deciding if someone has an interest in the property.
For now, I would suggest that you continue to attempt mediation between the parties. It might be that you are able to reach a solution.
I hope this is a useful starting point.*