I posted this in uk.legal.moderated but there are probably a lot more people here...
Currently I am paying a £100k mortgage on my ex wife's house, current value about £1M. 18 years to run.
The mortgage payment is described in the Consent Order (yes, I did have a CO drafted properly) as spousal maintenance, so if she remarries I stop paying the mortgage. It was a strategic decision at the time, but as expected she will simply not remarry...
She owns her house outright, and the mortgage is in her name. I pay the mortgage by direct debit, and I also signed a guarantee for it (because her income wans't enough to borrow £100k).
Now I think she is planning to move. As she lives locally, this is going to compromise contact with the children (aged 11,14) but that's another issue.
I understand that a mortgage is transferable, otherwise almost every divorced woman would be stuck in the original house, possibly for many years. Transferable in the sense that the family court can force the ex husband to take on a similar mortgage, for any house his ex wife chooses to move to, in the UK.
However, I also understand that there is an exception to this rule, if the existing property is already far too big (it's a huge 5-bedroom house, with several spare rooms, and nearly 10 acres of land) for the existing family; then she can be reasonably expected to downsize in the move, repaying the mortgage out of the sale proceeds.
Is the above correct?
Obviously I would see my solicitor for more detailed advice (if this actually happens) but I wonder if anybody here is current on case law on this subject.