(also posted to uk.legal.moderated)
I don't have all the info to hand on this unfortunately, so the details might be a little sketchy (i`m writing this on behalf of someone else, and they`re not here to fill in the gaps...)
Oh, and a quick "sorry" - this turned out to be a lot longer than intended :-}
A couple seperated, and for some reason the solicitor hadn`t split the assets at the time of the divorce. There are two children involved, the youngest is about 9yrs old. No maintenance has ever been paid to help bring up his children, and he claims* to be unemployed (and is classed as an "unskilled" worker) - he recently become a father for the third time to another woman, and is apparently trying to blame his ex-wife for his current living standards (shacked up in a flat) to justify the claim.
- he still manages to run a car and has unaccounted income in excess and in addition to benefits flowing into his bank account per his submissions to court.
Three years down the line, its now coming to a head. The ex-husband is taking his wife to court on Monday to try to make a claim for £20k out of the matrimonial home. The mortgage is for £28k and in joint names, which the ex-wife is struggling to pay on her own. She has no chance at present of being able to pay the endowment premiums, or bringing them up to date (more on this later), nor is there any possibility of her raising funds by other means to "give" him £20k if the judgement goes in his favour.
Husband hadn`t paid the endowment premiums for at least 12 months before the initial split (~March 2001) and the wife was not aware - or notified
- by the endowment company. At a later date, approx April 2002, he stopped making payments on the mortgage. He had lived in the house for approx 10 years at this point, and left the matrimonial home at around the same time (April 2002), making no further contributions of any sort.
House prices have recently risen quite substantially in the area due to other developments, and the ex-husband has had the house "valued" by finding the most expensive equivalent property nearby, and this is what he is basing his claim on.
The house (terraced), to be fair, is in sh*te order, has no central heating, may have substantial damage to the rear elevation due to water penetration (wife can't afford to repair the cause), and shows signs of structural movement - possibly due to the damp problem. Having seen the damage myself i`m "concerned" for the safety and structure of the house. Slates have also reportedly been falling off the roof, but the location makes the roof difficult to visually inspect, so it simply hasn`t been done...
His "valuation" puts the present value of the house at £85k although it quite possibly would only raise a max of about £50k bearing in mind the condition of the building. The house he is comparing it to is fully kitted out with double glazing, central heating, fully modernised etc.
As part of the court hearing on Monday (and i`m not sure if this would be allowed) I don`t know if it would be possible to ask that the mortgage is restored to a level footing, i.e. to repay the deficit on the endowment, and to raise the funds held under the policy to a more realistic figure that may stand some chance of paying the mortgage off if the wife makes the payments henceforth (there`s approx 11 years left to run) - the current "value" of the policy to cash it in is a mere £5k
All this is made the harder for the ex-wife as she has to pay for her own legal representation - he gets it all free on legal aid due to his pretence of being out of work. It also seems she is getting a very poor service from her solicitor given that its taken 3 years to sort out the financial side after the divorce.
Suggestions / comments welcome !
TIA