[Solved] Urgently need sound legal advice

Hi,
As of today, I have had to stop legal support through my solicitor as I can no longer afford to pay the fees related to their services.
In any case, I have been battling away with my wife for the last 3 months via solicitors and so far it has cost me nearly £5k and I am no further forward.

In summary, my wife left me in June this year and took the children. She is currently in rented accommodation and is in receipt of tax credit, working families tax credit, her salary and child benefit. The split was initially amicable and we had a verbal agreement for me to pay £500 per month maintenance, based on the 3 children and that she requested a lump sum of £60k from the property as her portion of the interest. This figure was agreed by her financial adviser to allow her to look at buying a property based on her income and the lump sum.

As the property was going to be transferred into my name, I applied for a new mortgage to consider an increase of £60k to buy her out. I approached a solicitor to have a settlement agreement produced to protect the property against any further claim.

This is where it all got very messy.

Her solicitor has guided her away from signing the transfer of deeds form until we did full financial disclosure. He wanted details of my pension arrangements to establish if there was a claim for a pension sharing order to be put in place. Without a doubt, my wife's pension arrangements (mostly deferred, only one is active) would be substantially less than mine.

I spoke to my bank and they agreed as an exception to extend the mortgage offer by a further month which ended on 30th September. We were pushing her solicitor to at least agree for the transfer of the property to take place as stage 1 to allow the mortgage offer to be put in place and the release of her £60k equity. Sadly, he never agreed to this and after speaking with the bank yesterday, I have now been refused a mortgage due to increased debt since my first application. Solicitors fees, mortgage arrangement fee and tax charge on child benefit were all added to a credit card, therefore my debt is £6,500. In addition I have a personal loan of £14,500.

This was absolutely devastating for me and I am worried about next course of action.

I am continuing to live in the marital home and have been left solely responsible for the payment of the mortgage, mortgage protection and house insurance.

My solicitor has instructed hers that I am no longer being represented by them and as matters were not resolved before the expiry of the mortgage offer, I can no longer proceed with a settlement agreement. She has been supported financially by her mother for solicitors costs on her side with the expectation she can pay her mother back once she has her share of the equity. This will not happen now as she hasn't agreed to the transfer.

There are other financial factors that I am paying for - child maintenance. I agreed to pay £500 to her each month which was a verbal agreement. Having checked the CSA website, based on 3 children and have them at least 3 nights every week, the payment should be £103 per week / £446 per month.

I have also been left to pay the children's mobile phone contracts as these a contracted for a further 14 months (2 year contract last Christmas).

As she left the family dogs with me, I was then solely responsible for paying the pet insurance for these. Sadly I have now had to rehome them due to my working pattern.

How do I stand legally to request compensation from her for the following:-

50% of the mortgage repayment from June to September - £664.83. And then request a 50% contribution from her going forward
50% of the mortgage protection from June to September £80.31 and then going forward
Childrens mobile phone contracts of which 50% from June to September is £71.90
The buildings insurance - taking into consideration all of the contents are now mine - June to September £30 and would be looking at her paying her £10 contribution thereafter.
Compensation for overpayment of child maintenance of £54 per month totally £162 from June to September.

We also have a joint debt from HMRC following a massive overpayment of tax credits many years ago. This originally was £7,500 and I have been paying £40.00 for the last 62 months and a balance of £5k remains. HMRC have advised they can split the debt as it is in joint name and write to her asking to recover £2.5k. However, I wish to seek compensation for the last 3 months for 50% of the payment which is £60.

In total for the period June to September, This totals nearly £1,100.

The property cannot be sold as we do not yet have a building certificate issued. Further work needs to be done on the extension internally before it is at the standard for a certificate to be issued. Estimated costs to achieve this is around £5k. Money I do not have.

I need to substantially clear my debt before the bank will consider me for a new mortgage. I do not want to leave the property and as it remains in joint name, I also do not want my wife making a larger claim on the equity if she is not contributing to the payments.

This is where I need some strong advice as I will be dealing with her solicitor direct.

Also, as I have a joint custody arrangement of the children, am I entitled to a portion of the child benefit payment each month?

I want to also question with HMRC, if it is correct she is receiving £1,300 per month for tax credit and working families tax credit if there is a joint custody arrangement taking place.

If anyone is out there that can help or point me in the right direction for urgent support, I would be so grateful.

Thanks guys

🙂

Hi guys,
I have received a response from my wife's solicitor advising that she now wants a further £30k from the property.
I have been refused a mortgage on the basis of the debt I have and therefore cannot proceed with securing any additional borrowing.
The property remains in joint names and I am continuing to live in the property.

Now I have stopped legal support as I can no longer afford the costs each month.

I understand that my wife would have to take me to court to either have occupancy of the property and for me to be evicted or to force the sale of the home. Is the cost associated with this linked to her and not me?

Also, without court proceedings, am I able to stay in the property indefinately?

Appreciate any help here