In August 2000, after divorcing my husband I kept my marital name. I now want to revert back to my maiden name, can I just go back to it or will I have to pay for a deed poll to change my name to my maiden name? If I have to pay to change my name, how much will this cost?

Hi All, I have a bit of a complicated issue....at least on the face of it is seems it! My wife moved out of her then marital home some 9 years ago on the advice of the domestic violence unit and for a little while she continued to pay the mortgage while her soon to be ex stayed in the house. After a while we bought a house together (due to her on-going issues with her ex I bought the house in my name) and we couldn't afford to pay both mortgages so concentrated on our new family home assuming that the old house would soon be re-possessed (even though there is a good amount of equity in it my wife wanted to move on and forget the past). Move on about 8 years and her unemployed ex is still in the house, the mortgage was being paid by the council (the interest); however recently he has been in court for benefit fraud and now they have stopped paying as we have started receiving letters asking for payment. We now want to re-mortgage our home to secure a better deal and want to make a joint application which is being hampered by fact that my wife's credit rating is rock bottom and this other mortgage remains a chain around her neck. What I am after is some advice on the best way to proceed here; ideally we want to force sale and realise any equity from the property if at all possible but would be happy just to get rid of the house so she can sort her credit out and get into a position whereby we can make a joint application on a new mortgage. After so many years its crazy we are still in this position but we just don't have the £8,000 we have been quoted in legal fees to get this resolved so anything I can do myself I will do to save costs. Any advice greatly appreciated.

I'm trying to help somebody with a dispute over claimed beneficial interest in a property. The lady doesn't have a computer or the funds to seek legal advice, and as I've read (and had) so much excellent advice from the people on this forum, wanted to ask for any views/help. Thanks in advance and apologies for the long post. The situation is: The lady (L) was living in a housing association property (1) with young children following a divorce. She lived there for roughly 5 years and then met a man (M) and they became partners. M had his own small house with no mortgage (2). L was informed by the housing association that she could purchase her property under the right to buy scheme, with what she recalls as a 50% discount from market value. After a year or so, L + M decided to live together. Whilst visiting friends and explaining their plans, their friends told them that a nice house (3) in their street was soon to go up for sale. L + M viewed the house and after discussing price with the owner, decided that they would like to buy it - the plan being that they could jointly finance it with the 50% profit of house 1 and the sale of house 2. L wasn't in a financial position to purchase her house (1) under the right to buy scheme and not able to get a mortgage. The value of M's house (2) was about 40% short of the asking price of the new house (3). L+ M went to a financial advisor who advised that they take out an endowment mortgage as a temporary measure (to secure house 3) until both house 1 and 2 had been bought and sold. As L was ineligible for a mortgage, M took out the mortgage in his sole name, and arranged all of the conveyancing through his solicitor. M was able to raise the funds to allow L to buy house 1 under the right to buy scheme, which she then did (although M arranged all the conveyancing through his own solicitor). The Land Registry title states that L was the sole legal owner of house 1. House 1 was then sold for a 50% profit. House 2 was then also sold. The endowment mortgage was then paid off with the joint proceeds from house 1 and 2 and they moved in together to house 3 (mortgage free). The Land Registry title states that only M as the legal owner of house 3, I guess because the endowment mortgage used to buy house 3 was in his name. L + M married the following year. They remained happily married for almost 20 years,and in a relationship for almost 30 years in total, but are sadly now divorcing. House 3 has increased in value by 400% since they bought it. M wants to sell house 3 and move away to another city. L does not want to stay in house 3 for strong personal reasons. M is claiming that he is the sole legal owner of house 3, that L made no contribution to it's purchase and therefore has no beneficial interest in the house. M is stating that L kept the 50% profit from house 1. M refuses to disclose the solicitors used to purchase house 3. M also refuses to disclose bank statements showing the different transactions, and says that as it was 20 years ago, the statements and conveyancing files are not available. On the information given above, any advice that I could pass on to L to help her with this dispute would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards Pattman