Man marries woman with property, Walks after 18 months & wants money!

[C-C]

My son in law had a previous marriage but left his first wife (who was a divorcee with a 2 children & a house) & newborn baby after 2 years to move back with his parents. He received a payout from his ex when she sold the house. A couple of years later he met my daughter (she was divorced from her first husband & had a 2 year old son). She also had her own house. Five years later, he asked to marry my daughter & her son took his surname. A month before the marriage, he asked her to put his name onto her mortgage so that a house extension could be built to accommodate his son when he visited. He hasn't ever paid the mortgage directly but has given my daughter �400 per month towards the total household bills of �850 per month.
After 18 months, my son in law has walked out without any reason or explanation. My daughter has now received a solicitors letter from him saying he wants a divorce and also half the value of her house. She paid over 55% deposit (and 45% on mortgage) on the house when she bought it 5 years ago, he has only had his name on the property to increase the mortgage so a house extension could be built. The cost of the extension has not yet been met in value.
Would a Court agree that he is entitled to half the value of the equity after 18 months marriage? Can she be ordered by the Court to sell the property even though this would leave her unable to afford another similar property? She is on the borderline to qualify for legal aid and so she's scared of instructing solicitors who will charge money that she cannot afford.

[oldwoman]

http://www.divorceguideuk.co.uk/3_3.htm See if this is any help till someone with knowledge answers. A right charmer he is.

[lady_p_gold]

This must be very upsetting. Is he actually on the title of the property or just on the mortgage. Trouble is, fighting him might be expensive. I think although the house would be considered as a joint marital asset, she may well be able to argue that a lot of this was accrued before the marriage. Unfortunately I suspect he will certainly be awarded something and she will either have to buy him out which is probably what he is aiming for. She is going to have to get legal advice as he is clearly not going to go away and the longer it goes on the worse it will get. She needs to get a divorce asap, I suppose the only consolation is that he has gone now and that she did not have children with him and get into all sorts of further entanglement with him. Hope she meets someone nice in the future.