England: Ex-Partner is claiming she owns 50% of my home and possessions
Myself and my partner of 16 years have decided to split.
- We are not married.
- We have three children together.
- I own our home which is entirely in my name
- She does not work and has not worked for over 2 years
- when she did work, she contributed to food shopping, buying the majority of weekly shops
- I have paid for all mortgage payments, house deposit, monthly bills, car payment, Netflix, school fees etc.
- I pay for her mobile phone contract
She plans on moving out once a council house becomes available (she’s been waiting 3 months so far). When she does she states that she is entitled to the furniture from my home or expects me to pay to furnish her new home. She says that she is entitled to half of everything because she’s contributed to food shopping and has children with me. She also claims that she can force the sale of my home and take 50% of the equity (or buy me out - which she has no means to do).
That all sounds like twaddle to me. But I want to be absolutely sure before telling her to get lost.
I do not mind paying out some level of cash just to get rid of her. And our children will obviously require beds if they were to stay with her.
Some additional facts that I’m not sure are entirely relevant:
- I am a relatively high earner and have significantly higher means than she does
- she has a history of abusive behaviour, this has also resulted in her contacting police to make false claims against myself (I won’t detail, it’s still a very painful memory)
- she has a history of drink and drug abuse, some of which her GP has on record. The police potentially do but it’s really not clear - I received some cryptic phone calls from them some years ago
- she is claiming that she is disabled but has not had a formal diagnosis of any conditions which would prevent her from working
- she has significant debts, some of which I have cleared for her, some are still owed
My question is, what do I need to pay to get rid of her? Is she entitled to any of my stuff or does she have a claim on my home?