Judge gives husband right to buy out wife's equity in home

Brendan Burgess

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This is given prominence in today's Irish Times.
I might be missing something but I don't see why it's important. Does it set some sort of precedent?
Without knowing the full divorce settlement, it's hard to see its significance.


They have adult children
Family home worth €232k
Mortgage : €116k
Equity: €116k

He is to buy her out for €70k or 60% of the equity.

The house is rented out - neither of them is living there.

The judge said she considered a sale of the house was appropriate. The “substantial” issue for the court to decide was whether the man, who was paying the mortgage, should be given an option to purchase it. Because the youngest child lived with him, the judge decided he should.

In deciding the value of the woman’s interest in the property, the judge had regard to the fact there was some, although “not extreme”, disparity of income between the parties.

Taking the various factors into account, the judge concluded the man should be entitled to buy out the woman’s interest in the family home for €70,000, about 60 per cent of the value of the property net of mortgage. The court, she said, would make an order transferring the property to him on payment of that sum within a specified time and he would continue to be responsible for mortgage payments.

If he chose not to buy the property, and it was sold on the market, the woman should get two-thirds, and the man one-third, of the net proceeds of sale, she directed.
 
The judge might make him responsible for the mortgage payments, but if he does not pay them, then she will be liable for them.

Her name will remain on the mortgage - the judge cannot order the bank to remove it.
 
I suppose that the judge could have given her a right to buy the property for €45k but the judge probably didn't order this as she claimed to have no income.

The judge also found the woman was in a position to supplement her social welfare with additional income from an area of work in which she had experience. The woman’s evidence that she was not continuing such work was “far from compelling” and it seemed she had other sources of income, the judge said.
 
Yes, I read the story too and wondered why it was reported on. It seemed just a normal type divorce settlement made by a judge. Maybe those in the know are aware of the couples identity, and it was gossip.
 
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