The family home is a common sticking point in divorce, leaving many couples stuck in limbo. Here, separated parents and mortgage experts explain why a fresh financial start isn’t always possible
Many separated couples can’t afford to live apart. Photo: Getty
“I fully expected when we decided to divorce that the house would be half his, even though the deeds were in my name. I had bought it before we met so it was my mortgage, and he would never have been in a financial position to purchase property at any point,” Catherine (53) and a mother of three, says.
Catherine and her ex-husband decided to separate and eventually divorce eight years ago. When she went for legal advice, she was surprised to hear that in fact, in their case, the mortgage payments her husband had been making during their marriage (at that point she had been paying the mortgage herself for roughly a year) would be considered rent, not ownership.