Ex stopping house sale

Curvy Vixen

So...

My partner has an ex wife, divorced in March this year. The short version of the story is that they have 2 houses....a 5 bed detached that she lives in and he pays for and a 3 bed terraced investment property that he lives in and pays for.

They are separated 6 years and the divorce was granted in March this year.

He was 'given' the terraced in the divorce and she was 'given' the detached. She has never worked, both their names are on both mortgages and he pays all mortgage payments.

He has just put his house on the market with a view to moving on with our lives, she went ballistic and has said she will never sign for the house to be sold...

Any idea where we stand? Can we take her back to court to force her to sign? Can she delay the sale so that it falls through? Does she need representation or can we deal directly with her?

Any help or advice would be fab :-)

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

MouseTail

And what does 'given' mean, what were the conditions of that? I would think if both names are on the mortgages, she maintains an interest.

seamus

I love that you've put "given" in quotes, indicating that this was an informal agreement, rather than a legal one.

Her name will be on the deeds on both properties, so he cannot sell without her permission. Between him and her and their solicitors, they need to come to an agreement on how to move forward.

irish gent

If you agreed on the sale and both signed off .The other party He or she will pay the costs of the solicitors and courts for wasting there time.

Curvy Vixen

I used 'given' because I didn't want to bore you all with all the fine detail.

In the divorce it was agreed that she lives in the 5 bed, he has to pay the mortgage for the entirety of the mortgage and then he has to sign the house over to her.

He lives in the 3 bed.....I can't remember the legal terminology used in the divorce but she has no interest in the 3 bed whether he stays in it or sells it, but obviously having her name on the mortgage means that she has to sign when it's sold.

Both their names are on both mortgages and the banks won't remove either unless a brand new mortgage is applied for and at new interest rates which isn't an option. She has never had a job so wouldn't be given a mortgage anyway....he can't take his name off her house even if he wanted to as he is the only wage earner. I am using lots of shorthand here to give you background as I said, without boring the pants off you all!

The solicitor has said that we can take her into court if she delays the sale....i suppose my question is, has anyone experienced this? Is it something that she can drag out for a long time, potentially losing buyers on the house? When the court date for the divorce was applied for it took 7 months to even get a date once everything was in order. She won't even communicate with his solicitor when asked if she has representation in order for the sale and that was 8 weeks ago.....I have visions of this taking the same amount of time as the divorce which was 12 years from start to finish!

Jonotti

She can't be moved from the house unless he stops paying the mortgage for years and banks repossess. That will be extremely damaging to him in that case.

He is goosed as she holds all the cards and has nothing to lose. He should chose his partners more carefully in future.

Dial Hard

Jonotti wrote:

She can't be moved from the house unless he stops paying the mortgage for years and banks repossess. That will be extremely damaging to him in that case.

He doesn't want to move her, it's the house he lives in he wants to sell.

Curvy Vixen

It's not 'her' house he's selling, it's his....

But you are right about choosing wives more wisely in future :-D :-D

Bigus

I'm glad he went for the curvy vixen at least it's worth hassle for him I hope .

December2012

Does he want the answers to the questions you're asking?

MouseTail

Should never have agreed to that in the divorce, it is very messy. A new mortgage should have been raised in his sole name for the terraced house, a tracker is not worth this hassle! You will need deep pockets to force a sale, and it might not be successful.

Curvy Vixen

Course he does December.....we are together 3 years now, we have an appointment to see the solicitor but it's not until Friday.

I've used Boards for great advice in the past though not the legal section. All I wondered is, has anyone else had dealings with anything similar and if anyone can offer proper advice.

Mouse, hindsight is a wonderful thing.....on the financial side he would never have been able to support 2 mortgages, maintenance and his own expenses had that been the case though so its swings and roundabouts a bit too...

SteM

I'm sure she'll agree to it when he offers her money from the proceeds.

Curvy Vixen

He won't be offering her any money....she's getting a 5 bed detached! I'll kill him myself if he offers her anything!

Marcusm

Curvy Vixen wrote: »

Course he does December.....we are together 3 years now, we have an appointment to see the solicitor but it's not until Friday.

I've used Boards for great advice in the past though not the legal section. All I wondered is, has anyone else had dealings with anything similar and if anyone can offer proper advice.

Mouse, hindsight is a wonderful thing.....on the financial side he would never have been able to support 2 mortgages, maintenance and his own expenses had that been the case though so its swings and roundabouts a bit too...

I imagine it's all down to the wording of the order given in relation to the divorce proceedings. Ordinarily, you would expect the court to order the husband to make the mortgage payments on the former family home and to facilitate the transfer into the ex wife's sole name when the mortgage is being discharged. Likewise I would expect the ex wife to be required to execute such documentation as is required to transfer the smaller property into the husband's name when the bank consent s available. Ask the solicitor, if this wasn't include in th order, the solicitor hasn't been very effective. If the wife fails to execute these documents, she can be held in contempt and can, I imagine, be committed to prison until she assists. (Highly unlikely)

Curvy Vixen

Just to wrap this post up and possibly help anyone else in the same position, it seems she can totally refuse to cooperate and we can't force her to.

However, we CAN get if necessary, an emergency court date and the registrar can sign on her behalf if she carries on in this vein so no need for her to even be there! Needless to say we are delighted....thanks to those that answered :-)