UK Divorce Forum - UK Divorce Forum

Legal Title - Liability

Plonk20 — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:43:31 +0100

I am currently stuck on my ex's mortgage until a deadline of December 2028. Until that time, they are fully liable to cover the building and contents insurance and to maintain the property (100% of the interest in the property will become theirs upon my release from the mortgage and transfer of title). The front drive fence is not entirely straight and one of the posts has begun leaning towards a neighbour's driveway where they, much to my concern, continue to park despite being invited to park safely on the ex's property pending an imminent repair. I have a few questions about this if I may.

1) As the ex indemnifies me against all costs relating to the property including maintenance, in the event the fence collapses onto the neighbour's car she will presumably be fully liable for any damages (I appreciate the neighbour could pursue me as a holder of legal title, but what I mean is if they did so I could make a Part 20 claim against the ex)?

2) The neighbour is also partly responsible and has already been warned not to park there pending the repair that I understand my ex to have organised and will happen imminently (volentia?)

3) In the event the ex cannot pay all of the damages, a court would be likely to order them to sell the property to cover the debt rather than insist I pay it as a legal title holder and have to wait for a sale to get my money back?

4) If I did have to cover any of this debt debt and have a charge until 2028 in this situation (to avoid a CCJ in my name), statutory interest of 8% would also be due if not the cost of a loan I had to take out plus lost interest on any savings?

I feel completely helpless not being able to maintain the property myself and being left at risk of a claim being made against me if the fence falls over.

Re: Final hearing

David Terry — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:28:04 +0100

>>Do i need more evidence than that ?

Yes. If you are minded to go back to court I would suggest you ask a solicitor what evidence would be required before wasting your money. What you cite would be insufficient.

Re: Final hearing

Xh.p — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:13:23 +0100

By cast iron evidence- there is a property on the market in the same borough for the same value i put forward to buy her share.
Property sold within last 12 months was sold for less than what i put forward.

Do i need more evidence than that ?

My fixed rate mortgage ends this month and it’s me that has to pay for it on a variable rate-

Re: Final hearing

David Terry — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:33:08 +0100

The most common reason for a refusal is that. H says house is worth £100K and offers to pay 40% which is £40K. W says house is worth £110K (or £150K or whatever). What H says may be as unrealistic as what W says. Without the property having been sold to a third party at market value it is a matter of opinion what the property is worth.

You can (and should) make a court application if your ex is just being unreasonable and that she wants to sell it to anyone other than you. BUT if you make a court application you should have cast iron evidence of what the property is worth and you should have presented that evidence to your ex, invited her to accept that evidence and told her that if you have to go back to court about it you will seek the costs of the application from her. If you neglect the latter you will not get your costs and may, indeed, be ordered to pay hers if the court thinks you have been unreasonable. You must show you been reasonable and able to prove it with evidence (not mere assertion).

Re: Final hearing

Xh.p — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:08:10 +0100

Is it a D11 form?

Re: Final hearing

Xh.p — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:46:19 +0100

My request to buy out her share has been refused with no reasons.
What process do i need to follow to take this back to court ? Does the judge that made the order need to be contacted?

Re: Final hearing

David Terry — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:32:35 +0100

You have a court order which provides for sale and a percentage division of the sale proceeds so you don't need another. You will need a solicitor to handle the conveyancing so it might be simpler to get that solicitor to handle the wording once you have explained the context. For what it's worth that's why I said you need a solicitor to handle the conveyancing. The context probably rules out using a licensed conveyancer for the transaction.

Re: Final hearing

Xh.p — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 08:35:56 +0100

Hi Terry,

Property still on market and not sold. I have managed to gather the funds to pay her share of the 40% the court ordered. Funds via family. I can take over the mortgage.

I need to be carful how i word my proposal? Any tips

Will a consent order still need to be drafted and signed in my case

Re: Potential financial split

NickF79 — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:50:03 +0000

Yea she offered 50 percent initially but I thought I could get more. Not great really. Thank you for the advice though.

Re: Potential financial split

David Terry — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:48:19 +0000

I have told you what I think of your chances. You want more of the equity than the mother with the care of two children - one of which has autism and the other of which is two years old. I don't think it is going to happen. And bearing in mind that your wife is on benefits and that she has offered you more of the pension to help make up for the difference in equity hers is not an unreasonable position.

I will say something else which is that I am sure you will find a solicitor who tells you what you want to hear - that your wife has a high earning capacity, that you are older than she is, that the starting point for any division is equality etc etc. I am aware of all that. My point is that when you have found yourself a solicitor who tells you what you want to hear and you then throw thousands (perhaps many thousands) in pursuit of this goal my view is that you are unlikely to do better than your wife is offering so the end result is that you spend a lot of money for nothing. I have seen this happen so many times. There are many solicitors willing to take your money in circumstances like these. You need to be aware of that.

Obviously there are situations where it is perfectly justifiable to spend significant money on legal costs. Typically that is where the other spouse is being totally unreasonable and so it makes economic sense to spend significant money on legal costs rather than accept an offer which is derisory. This is not one of those situations. Spending money on legal costs is a matter of economics. You are in a position where your wife's offer is not unreasonable so throwing money at contesting it is a big gamble which could easily backfire. Ultimately these decisions are for you alone but do not assume that a solicitor who tells you what you want to hear can necessarily achieve the result you want.

Re: Potential financial split

NickF79 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 14:55:12 +0000

But isn't it unfair that she had high earnings in the past? OK, she looks after the kids now but I am older and will need to go back to work now, too. Before separation, my mum was looking after the eldest so would a judge not think I was primary carer often organising this and doing doctor runs etc? When the youngest goes to school she could likely get a nanny half the time and thus afford childcare and a mortgage to upgrade. She has offered 40 percent of the equity to me which could afford a 2 bed outright for myself but I feel it is not fair that she would get a 3 bed. At some point, I might have my small son over, too. She also offered 70 percent of pension to me stating I could access it earlier than her but I am not worried about pension only home equity. How much will a judge impute earnings on her if she looks after the kids? Can they use imputed earnings for her mortgage capacity?

Re: Potential financial split

David Terry — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:42:00 +0000

>>She wants 600k to house children in 3 bed but I think my earning capacity is much lower so I should get 60 percent and she can upgrade once she goes back to work at some point when the youngest goes to school. <<

Frankly, I think you would be lucky bearing in mind the children live with your wife, the age of the younger and the autism of the elder If anyone has to make do with a smaller property it is likely to be you. Your wife's proposed division doesn't look particularly unreasonable when these facts are taken into account,

Re: Draft Consent Order/Separation Agreement

David Terry — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:22:34 +0000

A consent order takes a very specific format and you will need the help of a lawyer to draw it up. For instance a separation agreement might read, 'X and Y agree to sell the matrimonial home and divide the proceeds equally'. A consent order will read something like, 'By consent upon decree absolute it is ordered that 2 Acacia Drive etc be sold forthwith, that the gross proceeds of sale shall be used to pay of the mortgage to AB Building Society, to pay the estate agent's and conveyancing costs and that the net proceeds of sale shall be divided equally between A and B. A and B shall have joint conduct of the sale. Liberty to apply.'

Please note that is only approximate wording to try to give you an idea of the difference in language between a separation agreement and a consent order. The court will not draft the consent order for you. And you will need legal help to draft the consent order because it is very technical and there can be serious consequences if it is not done properly. If terms are already agreed then getting legal help to draft the consent order should not break the bank. Mind you, if you are wise you will also have taken legal advice before entering into the separation agreement.

Potential financial split

NickF79 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 09:46:37 +0000

Hi,
Could you give me an idea of what the potential split would be for us in court. My wife has applied to court as we were too far apart. We have two children, a 14 year old boy going to a specialist school for autistic boys and a 2 year old boy. Both children live full time with my wife, I see the oldest every second weekend but he also boards 3 days a week. I dont see the 2 year old currently. Wife earned very well before split at around 200k as a medical consultant but has been signed off work for 3 years due to mental health and now looks after our infant son full time. I dont work and have not for 10 years as I looked after oldest historically after Childminders and nursery were finished. So income for both of us is derived from benefits and wife also gets disability premium from DWP and high pip living. Our home equity is 1m with maybe 100k pension. She wants 600k to house children in 3 bed but I think my earning capacity is much lower so I should get 60 percent and she can upgrade once she goes back to work at some point when the youngest goes to school. She could make due with a smaller property until then. Childcare would be very expensive as she would need a nanny due to working hours and part time doesn't really exist for her. I am older than her and already 55. She is 41. How would court look at this?

Draft Consent Order/Separation Agreement

SJA — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:18:32 +0000

Hi All,
During our 20 week wait period, my wife and I agreed and signed a separation agreement outlining what we want from a financial settlement.
Now that we have the conditional order, we are able to apply for the consent order. Are we able to just attach the separation agreement from August last year in place of a 'Draft Consent Order' or do we need to have a new draft drawn up? Many thanks for your help

Re: Form A

David Terry — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:30:52 +0000

It is extremely unlikely, yes.

Re: Form A

Plonk20 — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 12:00:30 +0000

Thanks David. The order has already been sealed and I just wanted to ensure she had no comeback in the future. Sounds extremely unlikely.

Re: Form A

David Terry — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:31:43 +0000

It doesn't override it, no, but there two reasons it is not likely to be a problem. (1) A judge may overlook the boxes you ticked. That is an error but judges are human and sometimes miss things. (2) Assuming a judge did pick it up you would almost certainly just be asked to submit an amended Form A and service would be dispensed with.

Form A

Plonk20 — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 08:52:49 +0000

I noticed when filing my divorce paperwork away that I had not ticked all the boxes on form A section where it says "tick one or more of the following orders." However, the submitted consent order and D81 did address all these matters. Presumably the fact the consent order contained the clean break provisions and dealt with all matters overrides this oversight on the Form A?

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

MrStudent — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 20:58:56 +0000

Currently in the process of divorcing a young woman born in Ukraine.

Met her at 21 and I 26. Very different situation to yours but she pushed for engagement and then marriage based on tradition and my intentions towards her, which I agreed to. Honestly the sense of love I felt for her was unlike anything I'd had before and in many ways it was the best relationship I'd ever been in up until the last few years. Sadly she changed and all of the affection and devotion she showed me extinguished.

In the last three years I found her to be uncompromising, quarrelsome, and unwilling to communicate. She was also very enmeshed with family here and abroad many of whom have big opinions they like to share and all of whom have been married more than once. Instead of holidays together she has travelled back to Ukr 3 x per year.

I don't regret the relationship but I do regret the marriage. In hindsight I would have opted for a non-legal marriage abroad though she wouldn't have gone for that.

You are already deeply financially tied to this woman if she is carrying your child. As said marriage will maximise this.

I hope your experience has a better outcome than mine. I'm now of an age where the prospect of children with someone around my age is getting very unlikely. So my vision for the future has gone and I'm doing my best to pick up the pieces and carve out a new identity separate to her.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

David Terry — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 16:56:45 +0000

You will actually be disinheriting your children if you marry this woman and take on the child. That is because she and the child would then automatically become dependents and their claim would outrank that of any adult children you have more less regardless of any will you may write to the contrary.

I am less convinced by professions of Christian faith than you are for three reasons. First, it is not unknown for people to profess the Christian faith for reasons unrelated to faith. Some muslim asylum seekers do it simply because they think it strengthens their claim to asylum for instance. Second, if a person is out to deceive they will use whatever deceit they think best works with the intended victim. That is how scammers work. Third, if a person does actually genuinely believe such a belief can often justify (to the believer) acts which are objectively bad. Bad people do bad things but it usually takes religion (or an ideology) to make good people do bad things.

Of course most believers just believe and try to live a good life but professing to be a Christian is by no means a guarantee of virtue.

I don't buy this virginity stuff I'm afraid. Virginity went out with the ark (and the contraceptive pill). If another man is the father then she would say that, wouldn't she?

Obviously I may be wrong and this woman may be a second Mother Theresa for all I know. Unfortunately I have seen this type of scenario so many times that I would take a lot more convincing than you and therefore I would urge you to be very careful.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

JohB — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 12:09:04 +0000

I understand the scepticism, but yes, she was a virgin before we got together, and she is genuinely devout in her Christian faith. I'm a bit more worldly myself, but still a believer, so that part of our lives aligns more than people might assume.

She's currently working in healthcare here at a junior level, and the NHS is partially funding her doctor equivalence exams. I assume that means her qualifications were properly checked before any support was granted. She wouldn't be of much use as a battlefield doctor anyway as she’s an Oncologist, and I’m completely confident about that,, when I was unwell my own oncologist listened to her very carefully and treated her as an equal. I'm fully in remission now I am happy to say and it is to her credit too.

At this point, switching to a work visa isn't really an option, as she's about to go on maternity leave. But thank you for the questions and the caution. I do understand where they're coming from (and I don't blame my children for being careful either)

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

David Terry — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 11:56:28 +0000

>>There is another practical side to the marriage too. Ukrainians are here on temporary visas, and I couldn't imagine a situation where my child might be forced to leave

Frankly, this a big red flag. If there is a visa issue involved in the proposed marriage then think very carefully whether the motive is love or visa. There is a huge age difference here. Even if you do not marry this woman but she moves in with you and has the child then in the event the relationship breaks down (as it might do for all sorts of reasons including age and culture) then she will be in a position to make YOU leave the flat until such time as the child ceases to be dependent. And if you marry her you would probably lose title to the flat too.

The next point you probably don't want to hear but are you sure the child is yours? If you marry this woman and then the child is born it won't matter whether the child is yours or not because even if she told you the next day that the child was not yours you would still be liable to maintain that child because he/she would be treated as a 'child of the marriage'. However, if you did not marry and discovered the child was not yours then the child would be the responsibility of the mother and the biological father (unless you still went ahead and married the mother). You almost certainly do not want to hear this but I have seen this happen before and the facts here mean it must be a real risk. This woman is much younger than you. It would not be unknown for such a woman to have a male partner of whom you are blissfully unaware. Is it likely she was celibate until she met you?

Then there is the issue of the woman's qualifications. Have you INDEPENDENTLY checked these qualifications and the body administering these exams? This may seem far fetched to you but it is something I have seen before. The qualifications then become something of a mirage which never quite materialise.

You have said two things which make this possibility more than fanciful. The first is that you have referred to a marriage affecting her immigration status. If what you say is correct one has to ask why should she could not get a visa in her own right once she qualifies to work in the NHS. The other, of course, is that one assumes Ukraine has great need of doctors which one imagines that a patriotic doctor would wish to do her bit to address.

Now, I may be totally wrong about any or all of this. After all, divorce lawyers do not see happily married couples although I am sure they do exist. All the same I would be doing you no favours if I didn't say that I have seen situations like this before so I would urge you to be very careful There are red flags here. You run the risk of your life being devastated if you get this wrong.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

JohB — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 10:43:47 +0000

Just to add, she isn't poor either. She's a qualified doctor with good savings and is currently sitting the UK NHS equivalence exams (just a few left to go, 100% pass rate so far). Once those are done, she'll be qualified to work at consultant level in oncology.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

JohB — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 10:35:34 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone, and thank you for the concern and kind messages.

Just to give a bit of context of how I happened to meet her, she originally stayed with me as a refugee, as part of the hosting scheme. I wanted to do something useful, and at that stage we weren't partners at all (it was not even a remote possibility from my point of view, as she's nearly 40 years younger). During a pretty rough period with my health, she looked after me in a way I honestly hadn't experienced before. It was completely selfless and caring, for no reward at all.

I should also say, I'm not exactly a man of means. I've got a small two bed flat in a Midlands town (£70K max) and a state pension due next year, so if she were a gold-digger, she's not a very good one. She's six months pregnant now, which still feels slightly surreal. My son will be much younger than my grandchildren, which is not something I ever expected to be saying.

There is another practical side to the marriage too. Ukrainians are here on temporary visas, and I couldn't imagine a situation where my child might be forced to leave and grow up in a war zone. But that's not the main reason. The simple truth is that she's the best woman I've ever met, and until now I didn’t even realise this kind of woman still existed.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

David Terry — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 17:46:11 +0000

On a completely unrelated subject there are often reasons for things which are not immediately obvious. For instance, the A1 is a road which runs from London to Edinburgh. Over the years I have often used it going to one court or another. Something which puzzled me for a long time was why it has so many sex shops. After all, it is a road which mainly runs for miles and miles through open countryside. Why so many sex shops?

It turns out that there are good reasons which I had never thought about but which are compelling once they are explained. They have good car parking, they are high profile and they are discreet - you're not likely to run into your neighbour inside. The shops are also fairly isolated in that they are situated away from schools and town centres and communities likely to complain. And as one operator said, 'We can never get away from the fact that we are British and everyone is frightened to death of being seen going into a local adult store, but if they are 100 miles from home they have the confidence to go in.'

This applies to much else. There are usually reasons for patterns.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

David Terry — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 17:16:08 +0000

Yes, although you have to bear in mind that British men tend to marry only a limited range of nationalities. And it does tend to be men who do that sort of marrying. Although some British women also marry people from other countries that is much less common and often as much to do with immigration (at least so far as the would be husband is concerned) as about marriage.

In terms of financial carnage British men who marry, say, a Thai will tend to come out of it better than, say, a British man who marries an Ukrainian. One reason for this is because Thais are overwhelmingly Buddhist. That tends to give them a very different approach to life. Thais are, for instance, very respectful of the elderly for much the same reason.

Conversely for religious reasons it would be very rare for a non muslim British man to marry a muslim woman (and there are about forty majority muslim countries). That is because it is forbidden for a muslim woman to marry a non-muslim. The patterns a divorce lawyer encounters tend to span only a relatively narrow range of nationalities.

So, yes, there are patterns even though every individual does not necessarily follow a pattern. These are just generalisations.

Incidentally, one very common pitfall is buying a property in the country of the foreign spouse. In the event of divorce you can usually say goodbye to such a property. From the point of view of the British spouse doing this is hardly ever a good idea unless you are prepared from the outset to lose the money.

You see the same sort of thing in other spheres. For instance scam telephone calls often come from a disproportionally small range of countries. If you look carefully many times there are reasons for these phenomena.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

Randomer4040 — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:41:02 +0000

interesting, do you see any patterns in terms of which nationalites/regions are the best/worst in terms of perhaps also attitude during divorce?

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

David Terry — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 12:38:12 +0000

It doesn't matter where you get married (or divorced, come to that). The place of marriage is unimportant. What is important is whether the English courts have jurisdiction to settle financial issues following divorce. And they can acquire that jurisdiction in many ways but primarily it revolves around domicile or residence or some sort of combination of the two.

Also, there can be significance in nationality because any divorce lawyer can tell you that there are recurring (and often different) patterns of behaviour when different nationalities are involved. For instance an Ukrainian woman may be more likely to deny that she is poor by claiming assets etc in Ukraine (or wherever) which she can't get them out or realise for this, that or the other reason than, say, a Thai or Filipina would say such a thing, Obviously these are generalisations which may not apply to particular individuals but divorce lawyers often do see recurring patterns of behaviour.

Re: Prenup - the easiest / cheapest option

Randomer4040 — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 08:15:22 +0000

of course it is likely insane for OP to marry this woman. But from a rational perspective it is insane to marry in England in general if there is a big wealth gap and if you are a man (probably also if you are the wealthier woman to be fair). So the fact that she is Ukranian isnt important, the fact that she is probably poor is.