Legal entitlement?

[CheekyChops]

My friend has recently left her husband and is now living in my house. No adultery or anything on either side, she just decided he was a jealous, controlling git and so left him.

They had been married for approximately 9 years, during this time hubby worked full time and wifey worked part-time. Wife has a horse which costs money re stabling / feed / insurance etc etc and this is mainly what her wages were spent on.

Husband paid mortgage and all bills but wife did all housework and decorating (maybe with materials paid for by hubby) and kept house clean and in good repair and cooked all meals and did all gardening (hubby was a lazy so and so).

Now although they have agreed to split and sell the house, does anyone know what each would be entitled to? He is trying to say that she will be entitled to nothing as he paid all the bills. She says that if she hadn't been there, the house would probably be deralict by now as he is an idle sod and does f*ck all! Personally I can see both sides.

Apparently hubby took out extra mortgage on the house to repay debts. He says that they should sell the house, repay the debts and then split what is left. She says that they should sell the house, split the equity and then he pay the debts from his share.

Does anyone know what is likely to happen should they fail to agree and need to involve a sdolicitor? At the moment there are no children involved and all is pretty amicable. It won't stay that way for long if my friend won't keep out of her ex-house and stop annoying ex-hubby!!

[JK04]

i wouldnt consider working full time and paying all the bills bein lazy..

[Kathyan]

Don't think it matters who paid for what, it's still the matrimonial home and, as such, will be split 50/50. He could make her an offer to buy her out though.

[Twenty20]

I think both the above answers are probably right! The law does tend to favour the wife in a lot of cases, rightly or wrongly.

[CheekyChops]

JK04 I meant lazy around the house, as in he never lifted a finger to wash any dishes, never cleaned up, never mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedges, washed the car, painted etc etc. My friend did all that.

[bednobs]

why should he when he worked asll day?

[Ethel]

She does not have an automatic entitlement to half - if that were so there wouldn't be all these court cases.

Is her name on the Title and mortgage?

How long had he lived there before she moved in?

What were the debts for? Were they in his name only and used solely for his personal expenditure?

[CheekyChops]

Bednobs, he did nothing but lie on the sofa all the time watching TV. I appreciate that he works full time but mowing the lawn once in a while would not have killed him - most men do it!

One time their hedge was hanging over onto the pavement and there was a partially sigted man who lived further up the street. He knocked on the door and asked if they would mind cutting the hedge back as he couldn't see it very well whilst walking and it kept hitting him in the face.

He was told (not very politely) to walk on the other side of the street if he didn't like it. My friend was so embarrassed that she went out and cut the hedge herself whilst lazy husband lay on the settee and watched the telly.

Ethel,
They bought the house together and the mortgage etc is in joint names. They made a bit of money on the sale of their previous house (it had doubled in value from when they bought it) and they used the money to put a sizeable deposit on this house, which they have lived in for about 5 years.

I've been told that he took the loans out and they were secured on the house so I'm guessing they are in joint names. My friend tells me that he had debts of his own before they married although the loans were certainly taken out after. She says that she didn't want any loans although I find it difficult to believe that she didn't see any of the funds...

We found out yesterday that he hasn't been paying the mortgage since she left him so unless they sell it quickly, it is likely to be repossessed anyway!

I personally don't think that she should get half but she seems to think that she should so I just wondered what the legal position was likely to be.

[Ethel]

If the mortgage is in joint names her name will be on the deeds and they both own it equally.

She will be entitled to half.

I have put that very simply as that is the way most couples own property. It could be more complicated with him owning a larger per centage but that is rare in a domestic relationship.

[CheekyChops]

Cheers Ethel, lets hope it sells quickly then she can get her own place and I can have my house back to myself!!