Advice please.... separation.

[Junglemum]

My brother and his girlfriend are separating.

They have a house together, and some other debt.

What is the best way of going about it? Should they see someone for some advice? who?

[~Raven~]

Geez I just had a heart attack Ange!

[Marlene]

Geez I just had a heart attack Ange!

So did I!!!! I can't even reply now!! Deep breaths....deep breaths...

[Junglemum]

sorry! no not me!

My poor little bro.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Will one of them be keeping the house? If so, they'll need to get a valuation done to determine market value and generally the other person is paid half of the increase since purchase price (depends on the splitting of other assets) The title will need to be transferred into 1 name (requires some legal work) and the mortgage refinanced. This can sometimes be difficult because the mortgage is usually taken out with 2 wages and is not able to be supported by 1 person. I used to work in mortgage lending and whatever he does - don't get advice from the bank lender, they only have their sales target to worry about. If the situation is complicated i would advise him to seek legal advice.
HTH

[melbel]

me too!! You really shouldnt do that to us poor pregnant ladies, nearly gave the baby a heartattack!

As they are not married any disputes will be handled by the civil court not the family court, unless they have children. Hopefully they can sort it amicably because my sister and her de facto were at it for over four years before she saw any money from the house and even then he screwed her over right royally only because he wore her down and she was so desperate to see something she took a huge loss.....and this was even when they had a child together. Family court still weren't interested in the divorce part of the settlement......

[Trillian]

One piece of advice to give him would be anything that they have brought for the house together (furniture, whitegoods etc) that has been financed, make sure that whoever keeps which things changes over the names so that the one who DOESN"T have the item doesn't get stuck paying for it. My Brother got stung bigtime when his fiancee walked out a few years ago as too much was in his name, he trusted her to pay for it (thinking with his pecker at the time still ) and he has only just finished paying it all off nearly 6 years later.

[Ginger]

i just had a full-on heartattack myself!

[kelebek]

I would suggest seeking legal advice so he knows exactly where he stands

[Junglemum]

Thanks for the tips. He had no idea where to even start, neither did i! So he is going to talk to a lawyer and also a financial advisor.
Hopefully they can sort it all out without too many probs. The biggest issue is that they have had the house for less then 12 months. Talk about bad timing!

Thanks for your help, and sorry to get a few hearts pounding!

[Janie]

Another who is just picking herself up off the floor! Geez Ange, how to scare a person!

Your poor bro I hope the financial side of things doesn't make this hard time more difficult for him.

[Amity]

What state are they in?

Most states have now referred their powers with respect to domestic relationships (defacto/same sex) to the Family Court, which results in a cheaper and easier property settlement.

Otherwise, they can sign a Binding Financial Agreement if they don't want or need Court Orders.

Send him off to a lawyer asap.

[Reyna]

Something for them to keep in mind.....if they received the First Home Owners Grant when purchasing this house, they must reside there for a full 12 months. Not sure if they must BOTH live there, or whether just one can live there, but if the FHOG conditions are not met they may find they have to pay it back.