Hi All,

I couldn't find a "marriage" related forum but please move this post if not relevant here. Mortgage issues is the closest I can get to.

Here are the basic details.

My daughter has been married for 5 years.

They have 3 young children.

Mortgage is in the husbands name.

Both are named on the Deeds

Husband is the only income earner.

Husband decides to up and leave - not wanting to be involved anymore. A girlfriend has subsequently appeared on the scene.

My daughter has agreed to take over paying all the bills and pays 50% towards the monthly mortgage payment.

Husband want's to get back on the property ladder and restart his life and also have somewhere to have his kids at the weekend.

He wants to force her to sell the house, split the equity and go their separate ways.

My daughter is not in a position to do this with 3 young children. She doesn't work so even with some equity wouldn't qualify for a mortgage. Whatsmore, she didn't choose to be in this situation. It was his choice to up and leave.

He refuses to rent even though he can afford to do so as he see's it as throwing money down the drain.

Does he have any legal right to force her out and is she obliged to help him in some way restart his life?

Cheers.

Your dau needs to see advice of a Divorce/Family Lawyer.

If mortgage falls in arrears, the Lender can seek Repo with vacant possession.

Husband has continuous liability for children accommodation until age 16.

I'm pretty certain that he can't also to sell her part of the house while she has young children to look after. However, he could default on his share of the mortgage payment and you would end up in a position where you would be fighting an action for repossession by the lender.

How is the mortgage paid? Are they each paying their halves directly or is one of them paying on behalf of both of them? This is an extremely important question.

Of course your daughter's best interests would be served if she took over the mortgage completely and started paying it herself. She would then be in a position where she would be in control, she could be certain that the mortgage payments were being made and so that the house was not in danger and of course as time went on she would be notching up a much greater level of equity in the property. Her husband's claim would become diluted as his percentage share of the equity diminished.

You say that the mortgage is in the husband's name. This suggests to me that she is paying her half of the money to her husband. This means that in the end she does not really know whether the mortgage is being paid for not. Is it clear as to what her regular payments to him are for? Although you would want to hope that it doesn't get that way, if eventually it was discovered that she was making payments to your husband that he then had stopped paying the mortgage, they would then be the very serious matter of his misappropriation of her money. You need to have very clear evidence as to what the payments to him are.

However, it seems to me that her best interests are served by getting the mortgage payments into her name. I'm not too sure how they have managed to have the mortgage in his name only and yet the ownership of the property in both of their names. I would suggest that one of the things to do urgently is to write to the lender and to inform them of the new situation and of her concerns. If possible make an appointment with them and asked them what their best advice is. However, in the end I think that this may be an area where you need some professional advice.

Well, divorce proceedings will put a stop to any attempt to sell the house. If things go the way that they normally do with this circumstance he will have his name taken off the deedsalright but walk away with nothing and have a court order forcing to pay the mortgage until his children leave education.

That wouldnt stop him form chucking his job in and trying to go off grid though just to force your daughter into an impossible situation but if he isnt around then if the house is big enough she could take in a lodger to help meet some of the bills and ask the mortgage co to make it interest only for a while.

I would also agree that she pays her half directly to the mortgage co so they only chase one person for any shortfall