Hi, I would like your advice for my brother who is separting…

Hi, I would like your advice for my brother who is separting from his partner following her admission of an affair and my brother's subsequently disclosed debts.

My questions are around a) what are his rights and b) would you advice he go via a lawyer or family mediation c) would he qualify for any legal aid and d) should he consider going bankrupt? To enable you to answer these I have given substantial detail below.

They have been partners since 1999, live in a house estimated at £160K with a mortgage of £86K outstanding and have two kids of 11 and 9. Both have been married before. My brother bought nothing from his previous marriage to the new relationship having left everything to his wife and daughter.

They moved in together in Nov 2000 and she bought the house in her name with a deposit of £12k. He paid £300 pcm for the first 5 years towards the mortgage, plus groceries and phone/sky. She paid all other bills and the mortage. After the 5 years' special mortgage rate ended, they re-mortgaged in both names as a joint mortgage/tenancy.

At the 5 year point they also increased the mortgage by £20k and all the money was put in a savings account in her name. Approx £7k was then spent paying off my brother's credit card and car loan debts. The rest plus £1k gift from our mother was paid into his partner's savings account.

Both have had periods of unemployment in the last 5 years and have supported each other during those times. My brother had his own business for a few years which ultimately failed. He has no pension, not sure about his partner.

In 2008 my brother took out a £25k loan without telling his partner (which has contributed to their separation). This has all been spent on family items, paying monthly contributions towards the mortgage and paying for two car loans. In total he still has debts of £35K outstanding. During his unemployment between March 2010 and Sep 2010 she paid him £1500 pcm to enable him to pay his loans off to keep him solvent. She used inheritance money of £20K towards this.

Most of the furniture and the kitchen in their house was provided by our parents/my brother's funding. He is now in employment as a sales man for fire and burglar alarms earning a basic salary of £11k and the rest on commission. He has only been in this work for a couple of months so current earnings are very low. She works full time earning around £35K.

His partner has offered to pay him £15K now and waive any maintenance fees and to fund 6 months rental of a flat in advance from this £15K provided that he moves out before the summer holidays. I believe but cannot prove that she is still having another relationship and may have plans to move the other man in or to get someone in to pay rent. My brother doesn't want to leave as he cannot currently afford rent and could not get a lease due to his credit rating. Plus he does not see why he should leave when she is the one who had the affair.

Ultimately my parents would put a roof over his head and could substantially help with his debts but the preference would clearly be for him to sort himself out and to stop him repeating his debt mistakes. Please can you point us in the right direction to get him the help he needs based on my info and questions above. thanks.