Friendly Seperation :)

Sunny76

Hi there,

I am looking for some advice on where we should start with our seperation and from reading the posts people on here seem to have good knowedge.

Firstly, myself and my husband are on very good terms...we have no children and have been living apart for three years now. We are on such good terms we never did anything legal about our seperation! As we are now both in relationships we have decided the time has come.

Basically - My ex has agreed to sign away his rights to the house as I bought that before we met. We remortgaged in order to clear some debts he had. I am living in the house (he moved) and I have been paying the mortgage for the last 3 years. So think that should be straight forward enough - right? When we split we had no savings - just 10,000 euro debt which I agreed to take on (it was mainly his debt) for him agreeing to leave the house to me. Is there anything we need to clear up around this? To be honest there isnt even a will in place for the house....a lot to sort really. I am going to approach the bank in order to have his name taken off the mortgage - this will be a battle as its a tracker (PTSB) and I want to try and hold on to it. If anyone has advice on this matter I would be grateful also.

The other thing is we never sorted our tax situation. We have remained jointly assessed - I know this was wrong but just never got around to it. I am going to inform the tax office now but will we owe the revenue money becasue of this? Neither of us are big earners. Far from it - but we have however claimed back tax for college fees etc - will this make a difference? We are hoping to have the seperation backdated - I assume this can be done? Or can it? And if we do this then will the tax situation need to be backdated too? Hope this is making sense. The questions are making sense in my head!

Finally - its just the whole process I would like some help on. Based on our situation - do we need a solicitor or how do we go about it? How long does it take? As I mentioned above - can the seperation be backdated to when we split or how will this work?

Apologies for ther long post and all the questions. I would be very grateful if anyone could offer any advice. Thanks in advance :-)

ash23

I think a solicitor would be the best idea. I wasn't married but we did own a house which he stayed in after I moved out. We cannot get my name off the mortgage at all. The bank refuse. As a result we are both locked into owning the house jointly until something changes. Either that one of us is able to replace the other on the mortgage with someone else or prices increase and we can sell without too much of a loss.

I can't help with the rest of it because as I said, we weren't married. But best of luck with it and I hope you're able to get things sorted.

athtrasna

At this stage you might be better to wait another year and apply for a divorce. With property involved it does look like you will need a solicitor, so why pay for one to get a legal separation and then 12 months down the road pay for one for a divorce.

On the tax situation, the easiest thing to do is give Revenue a call and ask them, without giving your name or PPS. They should still advise you on the most likely outcome.

smash

athtrasna wrote: »

At this stage you might be better to wait another year and apply for a divorce. With property involved it does look like you will need a solicitor, so why pay for one to get a legal separation and then 12 months down the road pay for one for a divorce.

On the tax situation, the easiest thing to do is give Revenue a call and ask them, without giving your name or PPS. They should still advise you on the most likely outcome.

You have to be legally separated before getting divorced. I don't think you can back date a separation either.

Ickle Magoo

The Revenue are the best people to ask about tax implications.

There's some general info on divorce HERE OP, you might find some of the info Here useful too.

The first step towards divorce is usually a separation agreement or judicial separation. As you are on good terms, that's likely to be a separation agreement in your case. You don't legally require a solicitor but if there are any disputes over property, assets or children then it's advisable to get legal advice before agreeing to anything.

That said, you don't require legal separation. In order for a divorce to proceed, you need to have evidence of being separated for at least four out of the previous five years. So while technically they aren't "back-dated" - separation began/begins from the point you can provide evidence of separating into two households...and you might be better off getting legal advice on whether joint tax assessment would hinder that evidence.

All the best OP.

sffc

smash wrote: »

athtrasna wrote: »

At this stage you might be better to wait another year and apply for a divorce. With property involved it does look like you will need a solicitor, so why pay for one to get a legal separation and then 12 months down the road pay for one for a divorce.

On the tax situation, the easiest thing to do is give Revenue a call and ask them, without giving your name or PPS. They should still advise you on the most likely outcome.

You have to be legally separated before getting divorced. I don't think you can back date a separation either.

You DON'T have to be LEGALLY separated to gain a divorce. A separation can easily be backdated particular if you are both in agreement as to the date. Sorry Smash but you are wrong on both counts.

Ickle Magoo

Off-topic posts deleted.

Folks,

Can you please stop dragging this OP's thread off-topic asking your own questions/giving info that isn't accurate. There have been ample links provided - if you need to know the info please read them/take the discussion to PM or if you require your own divorce or separation advice then start your own thread.

Cheers

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