dont know where i stand

hello i hope someone can give me some advice, the thing is me and my husband have been having problems for the past year now, i think its getting to the stage where we are going to split up but im worried about the house we have two kids one at 9 and one at 7, i only have a little part time job which in no way would cover the mortgage payments the mortgage is nearly £1000 a month, both our names are on the mortgage so even if we are both responsible for the payments i couldnt even afford to pay half i only get £190 a month in wages and even if i got a full time job to help with the payments i would still not make ends meet especially with school holidays and the price of child minders. What i want to know is does he have to pay the mortgage by law or can he refuse until they repossess the property.
I have put my name down for council property and explained my position, im just so worried that he will just refuse to pay the mortgage before we get other accomodation.

Hi Sunny. Try not to worry. I am not a legal expert but have been thru the mill so I have an idea of what will probably happen.

Ok you have youngish children. He will have to pay Child Maint for them. Becuase your kids are young you wont be chucked out. Also becuase you both own 100% of the property no one can chuck you out.

He is not required by law to pay the mortgage. But if he dont you could apply to the court for interim maintenence order that will order him to pay something.

Its in his interest to continue paying as if he was living there until matters are resolved. In any case he will be sure to want a mortgage one day so he wont want any black marks on his credit report by not paying the mortgage.

You have a long way to go. I would start by going to see a solicitor and he / she will be better able to advise you of what will happen. But try not to worry too much. Women get a better ride thru the divorce process and esp women with kids. You will be ok. C

sunny,

if you do split you will be able to get tax credits and help with childcare costs as a single parent. It is definitely worth investigating these as they can be a big help if you are on a low income. I think the number of hours you work is a factor in this ..

www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/Qual...atAreTaxCredits.aspx

And the good thing about tax credits is that any maintenance you get is AFAIK not counted as income so they are not affected by maintenance in the same way as benefits are..

With 2 children, he will need to pay 20% of net income for child maintenance.

Could you move to a cheaper/smaller property to reduce the mortgage??

Hadenoughnow