Sepration

HI there,
I’m looking for some advice please
Me and my ex partner having been living together for about 9 years
We are not married, and have 2 children, one girl 5, and one boy 2.5 years of age.
We have a joint mortgage, the house is in England
I found out a few months ago that she has been seeing someone else, and when I confronted her, she says she now wants to split / separate
We are currently both living in the same house, and I don’t intend to move out.
However I have found out that she’s trying to get on the council list / looking at private renting
Could someone please explain where I stand regarding the house and children?
I have more debt than her, because she kept running up debt, and I kept paying them off, and took out loans to do so. This means that both of us are now in a debt management plan as enough was enough (Payplan)
She has never paid anything towards the mortgage, and I pay all bills, such as gas, water, electric, council tax, the debt management plan and so on. The only thing that she does, do out of her wages is get some shopping.
Can she force me to sell the house, if she moves out with the kids?
Because she has never payed anything towards the mortgage, can she still claim her 50%?
Should I stop paying the gas, electric, water, as there are in her name, but come out of my bank account?
Thanks for your help in advance

Hi mymk

If you intend to stay in the property, then to just stop paying the utility bills would simply mean that you will not get that service to the property any more from the energy providers. You will still need electricity etc, so an alternative would be to switch to a new customer (you). However the utility bills are in her sole name so she will have to end her contract with the providers first, you can't do that for her as the contract is between her and them.

I am not sure how the division of assets works but to get a better indication post in this forum www.wikivorce.com/divorce/Divorce-Forum/...G-IN-THIS-FORUM.html

Hope this helps a bit

79

As you were not married divorce laws and ancillary relief do not apply. What does apply is the law in relation to land and trusts and unless the property deeds state otherwise you both own 50% of the property and your ex partner will be entitled to her share. Each party will keep their own assets and debts and there will be no liability towards each other only for the children.

You need to ensure there are arrangements in place about where the children are to live and what time they will spend with each parent before your ex partner moves out.

Thanks 79 and Fiona, for you feedback

Just a few more questions

As we are both still living in the house, and both work, how best is it to divide up the bills. I earn roughly twice as much as here, should I pay 2 3rds and she pay a 3rd, or should she pay half, or should we pay 50 / 50 on bills in joint names, and pay anything else in our own names, if that makes sense.

At the moment, it seems she's laughing has I pay all bills, she just gets the shopping. Leaving her with a good size balance to spend on her self

Is there any way she can force me out of the house, i.e. if I went away for a week, could she change the locks while I was gone?

If she did, what would be my rights?

I have also heard that it may be worth popping into the local cop station, to inform them about my situation, something about logging a call. You here so many things, don't know which is true of false


Please bear in mind, we have two children