It is not possible for the court to force a bank to transfer a mortgage over to your sister. It is generally a bank's policy not to agree to the transfer of the property to someone who is not also responsible for the mortgage.
However if family finances permit, it may be that your sister is allowed to remain within the former matrimonial home and her husband continues to discharge the mortgage, until the children finish their education.
Your sister's husband cannot 'call on' the inheritance money your sister has just received. However, those funds will be taken into consideration by the court when the appropriate division of assets is adjudicated or agreed.
The court would likely consider that your sister has that amount of money to put towards a housing fund for herself and the children. I would not however advise your sister to use that money to pay down the mortgage until finances are resolved between she and her husband.
If your sister has been in receipt of income support I would assume that she has been legally aided. It is therefore very important that she now notify her solicitor and the Legal Aid Board that she has received this money. She may now be ineligible for public funding and she will have to discuss that with her solicitor.
Whilst I appreciate that it is difficult to accept, the court simply does not deal with the issue of who is 'at fault' in divorce proceedings. Therefore the fact that your sister's husband committed adultery will not, unless the circumstances are very unusual, impact the final outcome.
The court accepts that it takes two to make a marriage and that there are two sides to every story. Therefore courts do not, except in very unusual circumstances, take any real view on the 'fault' in the marriage. The divorce is pronounced in favour of a petitioner; that is the extent of the fault finding. |
