Hello - I am looking for legal advice re being separated in the eu

[euseparated]

Hello

I am looking for legal advice re being separated in the eu - basically what my rights are after being kicked out by my ex partner where we lived together in an EU member state.
Prior to this we lived together for 6.5 years in the UK.

I'm guessing the details of this would be best posted in Family law?

Thanks for any help.

[euseparated]

Bump - I haven't had a response yet?

[MIKE770]

you in the UK ???

[euseparated]

you in the UK ???

Yes. We were living together here for 6.5 years prior to moving. Were both british citizens.

[Peridot]

Hi,

So is your partner back here too or stayed in the other EU state? I assume you weren't married, do correct me if I'm wrong.

Did you own property together? I think to point you in the right direction we will need a little more details about what you own together, your marital status and whether you have any children.

[euseparated]

Hi,

So is your partner back here too or stayed in the other EU state? I assume you weren't married, do correct me if I'm wrong.

Did you own property together? I think to point you in the right direction we will need a little more details about what you own together, your marital status and whether you have any children.

Stayed there. Yes not married. Property was in "its"(!) name. No children, thankfully.

[euseparated]

Any advice with this please? I'm struggling to understand how I can be left with nothing except debt...

[Kati]

Can you tell us which EU state you were in (there'll be different rules for different countries)? And what you are looking for in terms of advice?

[Peridot]

Hi EUSeparated,

Did he own the property before you got together? What contributions have you made, eg mortgage payments or paying for work on the property? Are the debts in your sole name? What sorts of debts? Did you ever have any agreement that would lead you to expect you would obtain a share of any property?

Even more questions I'm afraid but to see if there is any options for you to explore you will need to give more detail I'm afraid.

[euseparated]

Hi Peridot & Kati

Was Cyprus where he still lives. I moved there on the basis that we would retire. The house he owned in the UK was sold and we would live in his parents apartment in Paphos. But he cheated on me and demanded that I leave - I have had to move back to my elderly parents house. I still have £15k possessions in the apartment but he is ignoring me. I would like to know if I can su, as I had an expectation that we would retire and now I am left back in the UK with debts... Sadly nothing written down except a written agreement with his parents letting us stay in the flat (for immigration). I trusted him and this has nearly killed me. I had anxiety and depression before but I have had to have ECT to prevent suicide.
None of this can be right.

The house in the UK was already paid off by him. I paid some bills, food and contributed what I could as I worked part time for the past 5 years. I got into debt because I could bring nothing "to the table" when we retired. Very stupid I know now. I feel like I have been conned.

Thank you for your help.

[Peridot]

Hi EUSeparated,

I can see why you are devastated by this and no it doesn't seem right but I'm afraid from the limited information you have given it seems very unlikely you would have a claim over any of his (it's) assets ie the proceeds of the property sale. However your own belongings you can claim for.

Cyprus is covered by the Brussels I legislation so you would not need the permission of the Court to issue the Claim or serve it upon him. I would suggest that you get some face to face legal advice on this however as the cost of pursuing any claim overseas and particularly enforcing it may be prohibitive and should be seriously considered. You should be able to get some face to face either free initial appointment or reduced fee appointment from a lawyer who specialises in civil litigation. I would suggest you jot down the facts trying to keep the emotion out, which I know is tough but you don't want to reduce the time for advice that you have available to you filling it with too much explaining of the back ground. The fact is you have belongings in Cyprus that he is refusing to acknowledge and you want them back or the value of them. You need to list the items and values (roughly) to then discuss the options for making the claim against him and the anticipated costs of doing so.

I'm sorry I can't give you more positive news on this situation. I can only imagine how heart broken you are. Please try and put this relationship behind you. From the sounds of it you are better off without him, although it doesn't seem like it at the moment.

You will need to write to him, (a letter before action) listing the items of values that you expect him to return to you and also making it clear that should you not hear from him with proposals for how this can be done by a specified date that you will me making a claim through the courts and seeking the costs of doing so from him. This doesn't mean that you then have to follow through on your threat but it leaves that option once you have made your own decision which way to go and means that you don't then have to do this step again if you decide to make the application to the Court.

If you need any more guidance on the letter do pop back but in the meantime try and find some legal advice locally. It may be worth trying our sister site JustBeagle.co.uk where you can search for lawyers locally to you.