Pension and Salary offset against Equity

Hi all some advice please -

Situation

How do you equate Salary and Pension in an Offset agreement in Equity?
Myself John Age 53 = Wife age 54
Also, Son age 19 – son & Daughter age 18 daughter


The current situation -
2 houses - There are 2 houses our names are on both deeds – joint ownership on two houses -

Husband - Lives in House B wife Denise in House A with children mostly see valuations below

House A – 140k
House B - 220k
Outstanding mortgage on House B = 20k

How do we split the equity - we had agreed partially to leave pensions /savings alone and not include; children are nearly 20 so maintenance will stop at 20.
Issue the wife wants House B she cannot buy me out but says because of my additional earnings and my pensions the 60K difference in equity she wants to have this to negate my Salary and Pension.

She has told me that she is very reluctant to move out from the family home although she cannot afford the mortgage and want me to pay ½ the 20k which is ok if I get it back later.

The bulk of the equity is in House B I am considering paying off the mortgage as a loan then that the house be sold at a later date and I am then reimbursed with the money – in 6 years. This is under the agreement my pensions are mine and we keep our own savings.


Salary me 35k
Her 12K

Pension I have some but they do not equate to a lot as I put money back in to houses when contracting.

I feel 60K is too much.

Your wife has a point. This is a long marriage and you earn three times as much as she does. She also seems to have the care of the children (which does not necessarily come to an end at 20 if either or both go on to university). The starting point of any division is an equal division but the above factors tend to suggest that there will in fact be an unequal division in favour of your wife of at least 55/45 and perhaps 60/40. You will, after all, be able to rebuild your financial position more easily than your wife.

You do not say what the savings or pensions are worth. Unless your wife agrees (which she would be advised against) I think the notion that you should pay off the mortgage and then get your money back in six years time when the house is sold is fanciful. Why should your wife be expected to sell up at that point and disrupt her life? It is not likely to happen. Depending on how much the pensions and savings are worth it may well be that the outcome will be that your wife gets property B free of mortgage (which you pay off), you get property A, keep your pension and that there is a clean break between you.

Thanks for the approach - I do not wish to disrupt the family no. I am amicable and sensible, my son stays with me 2 days a week - my daughter not currently. I left for personal reasons I don't wish to divulge but I did give up my retirement to a degree.

At 54 I do not wish to work till my death to rebuild my finances. My pensions are not worth a great deal as i put most of may salary back into the properties - this was often 2k a month.

I am open to advice and do listen the children will be 25 one day and I look at it this way I will never recoup half my equity so it looks like i will just have to say goodbye to it.

This however i find difficult considering the 6 day weeks and the effort i put in in work.

You are overlooking the fact that you and your wife raised two children during the course of a long marriage. Contributions to a marriage are not measured in purely financial terms. The courts regard marriage as a partnership to which different spouses contribute in different ways. Also, at 54 and earning three times as much as your wife you do have a better chance of rebuilding your finances than she does.

For what it is worth the reason you left and/or the reason for the breakdown of the marriage is likely to be irrelevant. In almost all cases what matters to a court is how the assets of the marriage are to be divided taking into account various factors such as the needs and resources of both spouses.