House sale following lengthy separation/divorce

[Silver Fir]

Hi there, am hoping somebody might be able to help with this:-

Married 1997, jointly bought marital home for £39k in 2001 (£36k mortgage).
Separated in Feb 2009, I moved out (am now renting), Ex remained in house
House valued at £100k at separation, mortgage outstanding £30k
Ex tried to buy me out for one year, couldn't raise funds
House on market on/off since January 2010, viewings only, no sale
House probably still only valued at £100k now, it's not selling at £115k !!!
Ex still considers house his primary residence, though he stays away weekdays

If the house sells after February 2012, am I going to have a CGT liability on my 50% share of the monies? (estimated £35k less sale costs)

And if so, is there any site you'd recommend for estimating the extent of my liability, as I will probably have to claim that off my Ex as part of the settlement. (I have evidence that he has delayed settlement by at least a year, so the fact it's gone over 3 years since I moved out, is his fault)

Many many thanks if anybody can help, I only found out about the potential for CGT liability today and I'm really worried about this. If its of any relevance, the Financial Settlement legal document (consent order) hasn't yet been signed.

[mullet]

If you were transferring your share of the property to your ex, then an extra statutory concession might help you. But with a sale you just calculate the CGT in the normal way. The valuation at the time that you moved out is not relevant (since moving out is not a "chargeable occasion"/basis for revaluation), and the mortgage amounts don't feature in the CG computation (you use original cost). So your gain is 50% of sales proceeds less 50% original cost, not half of the equity when you sell.

In very simple terms and ignoring acquisition/disposal costs for now as they don't matter (because you won't face liability anyway):

Sale - assume February 2013 (being negative) for £120,000 (looking on the bright side)
Cost £39,000
Gain £81,000
Your half share £40,500
Private residence relief 8 + 3 years out of 12 years = £37,125
Net gain = £3,375 - which is well under your annual exempt amount which will probably be about £11,000 in 2012-13.

Obviously the above depends on you not having consumed your annual exemption with other disposals. And be careful, because as time passes a larger proportion of the gain will be unrelieved by PRR. But you certainly have some headroom here.

[Silver Fir]

Thank you ever-so-much for posting such a detailed reply I think, in my panic, I hadn't taken into account that I'd only be liable for a year or two's portion of the CGT since purchase.

I do appreciate this. Thanks again.