My IM informed him that we need to sell our flat in London,pay bank debts and split the remaining equity in half.
He agreed and I spoke with him today very briefly for literally 2 seconds and told him to give me power of attorney so that I can move the sale forward ( the flat is in his name, but it is ours). He told me that he will take care of it next month as he is moving over here for good.
I said, ok, speak to you when you are here, bye.
That's it.
Started ice skating twice a week, going to gym and zumba classes, I am going out often and life is beautiful!!!!!
I am starting to think that it all happened for the better ;o)
czarne, a judge in the English divorce courts would give you more than this.
First, you do not have to sell the flat at all since it is your and the girls' home. It only needs to be sold right now if there is not enough money for you to stay living in it. A judge would give you the right to live in the family home until your youngest leaves education (i.e. university) or until you cohabit. Only then would the flat need to be sold, and at that point you would get more of the equity because you have been paying to live there for longer than he did.
If it does need to be sold now, or if you want it to be sold now, you would be given more than half the equity - at last 60%, because you need to provide a home for the kids. So whose idea is it to split the equity 50/50? You are losing out in that deal.
There is also the issue of his maintenance for the kids. if he has no money to support his kids, you could argue for much more of the equity in lieu of the payments he should be making. You could also argue that if the debts were caused by him, that they should be taken from his share of the equity, not yours.
You will be royally shafted if you go ahead with that 50/50 arrangement. You are entitled to a lot more than that in order to provide for your girls.
I was under the impression that you had consulted a solicitor. Did you discuss all this? If not, you need to see one right now. Ask what a judge would give you if you retained a solicitor to fight him in court, and suggest that he makes you a generous offer to avoid this waste of money. That's what I did after my last D Day (we did not divorce after all), and that is where I get those figures from about equity and remaining in the house until the younger child leaves education, etc.