Divorce and selling the house

[Mumto2]

Hi,

I’m after some advice please.. my ex husband and I have a joint mortgage he wants to sell the house. I feel I have to sell the house so he can then use his share to get somewhere decent for when the children stay with him (girl 13, boy 10) currently he’s renting a 1 bed. But once off the joint mortgage can then buy.

I can’t afford to buy him out and my salary isn’t enough to get the mortgage in just my name. In fact I will be lucky to get anywhere in my area for what I can borrow on my salary and my share of the equity. Renting a 3 bed is more than my current mortgage payment which I am now paying alone.

What can I do? What are my rights? If I have to sell should I wait until the solicitor tells me I have to?

How long does it take for a divorce go through? We have decided to go the collaborative route.

Any comments will be appreciated.

Thank you

Anne

[Pipandtheboys]

I’m in a similar position. My ex wanted to sell so he could ‘move on’ and buy a place of his own and then give me my share of the equity so I could rent a place for my and our kids! I put my foot down and said no, simply because my kids need stability and our home is close to their school and also because I could not get a mortgage on my salary even with some equity, so how is that fair – especially when the kids live with me. I told him it was not fair on the kids and I was not trying to rip him off, but why was he in such a hurry or need to buy somewhere so soon?!

He soon mellowed when he realised that legally he cannot make me sell the house and if it went to court, they would most likely rule in favour of me and kids.

You could suggest that you continue living in your home until the kids are a certain age, then sell? Many people tend to do this and if he will pay towards the mortgage or you can afford it, then that’s a good option for the short-medium term.

[Dancing63]

Have you looked into mediation?

Very early days for me but we’re attempting to resolve things through mediation and luckily I can probably afford to buy my ex out but if not the mediator can tell you both, at the same time what would be fair and reasonable. Much cheaper and likely to be resolved quicker than via solicitors if you can cope with sitting in the same room.

As you have the kids you’d almost certainly get more than 50%.

Give it a month or so and I might be crying on here that mediation hasn’t worked!

[Author]

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