Hey well done that is great. The post made good reading and I am sure it will help others in the future.

Just thought I'd post back thanks for the replies. I did get legal advice, and I am now the legal owner of the house! Am in the process of getting the house listed for sale. There was an old endowment on the mortgage but it was cancelled some years ago. So, there's still 40k to pay on the mortgage as it was an interest only one, and the bank have agreed to hold mortgage payments until the sale goes through, but at least I'll end up with something!

A further complication COULD BE that there was an endowment/life insurance policy set up against the mortgage on joint lives - This was still happening in the early 90s - this might have part paid or even all of the mortgage off - so your ex-partner's family might be looking at a very cheap house if they can break your links with it.

Yes I agree that it is a bit more complicated than just getting your name taken off the mortgage. I would suggest that you speak to a solicitor about this to find out a bit more, before you speak to your ex's sister. If you speak to her beforehand, just say that you need to get some advice first.

I am not convinced that just because you were on the mortgage, that you now own the property. I have a feeling it will be a bit more complicated than that. Something tells me that if you were to claim the property, that the ex's family would take this to court if necessary, where it will be shown that you had not contributed to the mortgage or house for the last 20 years. There must be some case law in this area, as I can't imagine the situation is unique.

It may cost you to get legal advice, but I think you need it, as I am sure you will start to get correspondence about this, which you may not know how to deal with. i.e if you are still on the mortgage, surely the mortgage company will try to contact you.

If the house is under "joint tenancy" as 99% of mortgages are then you just gained a house and there absolutely nothing that your ex's sister can do about it. As a joint tenant, this means you both own 100% of the property between you and when one partner dies the ownership become soley 100% the remaining partners. No will can dispute this. Saying that, this also applies to any financial commitment that is held against the property so you have also gained the mortgage he held on the house too. It would seem very strange for someone not to remove their ex partner from the mortgage after or during 20 years and based on that alone I would be surprised if the mortgage has been altered in the last 20 years but if it has and you find there is a large commitment on the property for which you do not want to become a part of then you may be able to claim that you have had no contact with the partner for 20 years and any additional commitment on the mortgage must be fraudulent as you have no knowledge or reference for it and i would at that point refute any additional borrowing from the point you left the partner. You cannot deny responsibility for the mortgage itself as your name is against it but you can deny responsibility if you were not part of the decision making at the time of borrowing

Quite frankly if the mortgage hasn't been touched in 20 years then the balance would have to be very low and I would run like the wind with your new house tucked under your arm and just call it severence pay for the violence of 20 years ago.

No Will or rule of intestacy can make you give this house up if the mortgage was made under joint tenancy, the ownership falls 100% into your lap, mortgage and all and there is nothing the sister or family can do about it.

I would still suggest you gain legal advice about it but I would be 99% sure that this is the case

Advice please!

I've just discovered my name is still on a joint mortgage 20 years after I split from my partner. My parents received a phone call from my ex's sister to say that my ex had died, and she needed to contact me to 'get my name removed from the mortgage'. We were never married, and only in the property for 2 years. I left the house with nothing after my partner became violent.He also forged my signature to claim a works pension settlement that was sent to the address I left. I only discovered this when I phoned to enquire where my pension was! I was 22 at the time and very naieve about finance. I thought he'd taken my name off the mortgage. I can only assume the bank wouldn't grant him a mortgage on his own so he had to keep my name on, and I had no idea.

My parents didn't give the sister details of where I live or any other detail, just took her phone number for me to call, which I haven't done as yet. Where do I stand?

Thanks