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T O P I C R E V I E W
ElleB
Posted - 23 April 2009 : 17:35:11 My partner owns a house with his ex wife. The property was purchased 18 years ago and my partner hasn't lived there for 6 years. He has paid nothing towards the mortgage, the bills or the upkeep of the property at all.
We had the property valued today and there is £125,000 equity in it. What we want to know is can we argue that my partners share in the property is less than 50% due to him having no financial imput into it for a third of the time the property has been owned?
A family member has said they will buy the beneficial interest but they won't be able to afford £60,000 plus, hence the reason we want to try to reduce the amount of interest my partner (or the OR now) has in the property.
2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
RHB
Posted - 24 April 2009 : 07:21:35 Was there no financial settlement made when they divorced?
John
Posted - 23 April 2009 : 19:09:30 Hi
yes you can indeed argue that your partner's share is less than 50% and this would be done under the principles of equitable accounting.
There is no set formula for calculating the exact percentage interest it's a matter of doing the sums based on various values and contributions etc etc. Once you have considered what you feel to be a fair percentage interest and have the facts and supportive evidence to back your arguement it's then a matter of negotiation between yourselves and the trustee. If you are then of a mind the trustee is being unreasonable it can be taken to court.
There are case precedents that can be quoted in court to support the equitable accounting principle.
You can go through this process yourselves or engage a professional. Naturally such services do not come cheap as the potential saving to you from the 50% figure could be somewhat significant.
