finances on divorce

[hellokitty74]

i am in dispute with my wife over financial settlement she is in former marital home with our young children, i am having to rent with my new partner and her young children.
she wants me to sign house over although she is unable to realease me from mortgage and says she may not be able to do this for around 5 years due to her not being able to work with 4 small kids as child costs would be to high.
obviously i would like to be able to get on with my life without being financially tied for this amount of time, we also have a large amount of debt that i would like to be paid by selling the house.
i have had to go into rented so surely there is no reason why this would not be suitable for her.
she is maintaining that if i dont sign house over then the court will have to decide.
what is likely to happen???????????? i also have no pension savings or other assests and am almost insolvent.

[crete]

you expect her to move into rented accommodation with 4 small children leaving thrie home maybe quite traumatic for them especially as they have seen there parents split up cant your new partner take some of the financial pressure off you

[hellokitty74]

my partner and her children have left their family home and my partner has no assets.

[crete]

ive had a look at your question again you and your wife could seek assistance from family mediation service because once you start going to lawyers it becomes very expensive, non of my business but so many young children involved

[DotH]

Purely an informed guess though it may sound harsh:

If you have had the mortgage for before a certain date, i cannot remember what that is tho, the mortgage interest
will be paid by the DSS after a Short qualifying period, assuming she has been to get support. if it was after that date the interest is not paid for a long time and u will have to help her to avoid arrears and adverse credit rating to you both.
The council tax will be sorted out if she has filled out an application for Council tax benefit.
With four children though I imagine you have been in receipt of working tax credit, which if she is not working and u are you will have had to adjust to your new circumstances, the childrens tax credit is the same.
She will only have the Child Benefit and income support and maintenance off yourself to manage on.
She will be able to get a form from the court for an interim maintenance order for her and the children and if she is on benefit this will likely not cost her anything.
The children can stay in the marital home until the youngest leaves full time education and so i would prepare yourself for a long haul, maybe when the children are older she can return to work and then claim WTC and CTC in her own right and come off benefits but until then I suggest you show your children how supportive and loving their dad is to them and remain a consistent and loving part of their lives, and think yourself lucky you can give them that.

Dotty
xxxx
It does sound harsh doesn't it? sorryx

[lady_p_gold]

I think you have little chance of it being sold. You do not say how much equity there is in the house but if your situation is as you say, even if it was sold she would probably be awarded most of the equity in order to purchase a family home free of mortgage for herself and the children. If there is not enough equity then as the previous poster said it would probably be covered by benefits. Do you not work ???