Just filling in divorced forms :/ have a legal query over property

potnoodle_2

Hi guys, posted on here a few weeks ago about unhappiness with alcoholic husband, things have moved on quite swiftly since then, it transpires he was seeing another woman, and so I am now divorcing him.

I have a query that I am not getting far with by reading the legal docs and hope someone here can help.

I have a house, in my name, he has a declaration of interest on property which means he is named as a restriction on the title deeds, so that i cant sell it without his agreement, I think I said he should have 50% when I bought the house, the solicitor that I dealt with cant find forms so isnt being very helpful!

Husband has agreed to my proposition that he pays no maintenance towards my sons, youngest is 13, ( we did agree £70 a week) as long as he signs over his right to the house.

I have spoken to land registry and have an RX4 form which allows him to be removed as a restriction.

Would this superseed the declaration of trust and make that null and void?
My other question is, I assume he could still try and claim for 50% if things got nasty, is there a legal way of stating that he gets nothing but pays me nothing - that is legally binding i mean? Is that what a financial order is about, I have seen there is a "property adjustment order" available on the divorce forms, but is that what i want?

Would be grateful for your advice.

clearingout

You need a Consent Order or a judgement to get it all sorted. It used to be called 'ancillary relief' but I think they've recently changed that - if you can't agree between yourselves, you can ask a court to decide. If you do agree, you get a Consent Order drawn up by a solicitor, sign it, a judge signs it and you're all done.

You should note that it is unlikely that a solicitor would advise your ex to agree to signing over his rights to property in exchange for you not claiming maintenance - you can go to the CSA at any time and have this over-ridden. It wouldn't make sense for him to agree to this and I suspect a judge wouldn't sign it off either (please note I'm not an expert, just someone who's been through it all).

pigpen

clearingout wrote: »

You need a Consent Order or a judgement to get it all sorted. It used to be called 'ancillary relief' but I think they've recently changed that - if you can't agree between yourselves, you can ask a court to decide. If you do agree, you get a Consent Order drawn up by a solicitor, sign it, a judge signs it and you're all done.

You should note that it is unlikely that a solicitor would advise your ex to agree to signing over his rights to property in exchange for you not claiming maintenance - you can go to the CSA at any time and have this over-ridden. It wouldn't make sense for him to agree to this and I suspect a judge wouldn't sign it off either (please note I'm not an expert, just someone who's been through it all).

that is exactly what we did.

we worked out the equity in the house halved it.. which was £10,000 .. The cm was £100 a week so KH doesnt pay CM for 2 years and signs over any right to the house.. namely the deeds are tranferred to my name alone..

He wasnt giving me any money anyway so we havent missed out on anything.. though the day after the court order expires I am taking him for every penny we can get.. the children deserve that much!

potnoodle_2

Thanks for replies

Still a little confuzzled....

So if I can get him to agree to a consent order, which he kind of has to be honest, does he actually need a solicitor? Can i just get one myself and if he agrees to sign, then can the judge over ride this or is it then done and dusted, or does he have to have a solicitor also to do the consent order (which i agree may cause problems)?

potnoodle_2

Btw he has just signed the removal of the restriction on the deeds which i have just posted, so i will soon be on the deeds with no restriction. Question is really if IK sell can he then still try and get half or however how much? If so I want it in writing that he has waived his right to this. Can this be done with a consent order?

pigpen

He can represent himself at any point.. though he would be sensible to get a solicitor but that is up to him.

If it is just your name on the deeds he waives the right to any profit from a sale of the house and cannot force you to sell..

Also.. ours is worded as such that I will not initiate proceedings with the CSA but.. should THEY demand I comply with their investigations and they initiate a claim I can comply with their demands... for a period of 2 years from the date of the court order.

clearingout

you need to get your relationship with him legally 'signed off' so there is no chance of him coming back at you and making a claim in the future. It works both ways - you won't be able to go back to him either. If you don't have legal advice, you may find that a judge won't sign off the Order without dragging you both into court and asking if you understand what you're signing.

If he's daft enough to lift the restriction on the house, that's his problem, not yours! but if you want it all done and dusted legally, you'd be advised to see a solicitor now so that everything is above board. The answer is yes, he can come back to you in the future for money - from the house sale or other money you might have if you don't have the right paperwork in place. He's not 'waived his right' to anything really - you're still married, and you have no Order in place which deals with who gets what. Does that make sense? You're just agreeing something - he can go back on his word, just as easily as you can.

pigpen

Neither of us had to go to court at any point.

The financial order was done 7 months after the absolute was put through too.. so neither of us has any claim on anything in the others possession.

potnoodle_2

Hi thanks for replies, i did speak to somebody from wikivorce? who are apparantly a charity and funded by government in place of the legal aid that was stopped - they do some kind of divorce and consent order package for around 700 including court fees, the guy said he didnt think the judge would agree to husband not getting anything from the house and not paying maintenance as i can claim csa anytime even with consent order, and also its not fair on husband after 15 years of marriage to not get anything. Damn. Hs anyone used wikivorce?

Sammy85_2

potnoodle wrote: »

Hi thanks for replies, i did speak to somebody from wikivorce? who are apparantly a charity and funded by government in place of the legal aid that was stopped

Not quite - they are a "social enterprise". So rather than measuring sucess by profit they measure by the difference they make to society. They are a registered limited liability company not a charity.

They are funded through a number of sources, both businesses and charities and have received some government funding through the Child Maintenance Options service and the direct.gov website suggests that solicitors are not necessarily required for divorce and "Alternatively you can get online help with the divorce process on the Wikivorce website."

It wasnt created in place of legal aid. It was created by a bloke who went through the divorce process and wasnt impressed with it, so wanted to change things. They provide lots of information and support and IF you require it can arrange the legal aspects for you.

Im not saying all this to put you off them, im sure they are a great source of information and support to get through your divorce. I just didnt want you thinking they were some kind of government entity.

pigpen

You can break the order at any time but if you do then you also nullify the order regarding the house.. so it depends how mch you want the home to be yours and how dishonest you are.

I meant to get the papers for mine while I was upstairs and I forgot.. Ill see if I can sneak up in a bit.. they are in my diary right next to the cot and the baby just went up to bed..

He is getting something though.. he is getting to not pay maintenance for an as yet undefined period of time so he is getting his share in the property whenever he doesnt have to give you any money for your children..

Individually KH and I have no material assets.. (I also chose to not claim any of his redundancy money even though I was entitled to half of that too!!) .. so the only asset we had was the house.. I couldnt buy him out, he couldnt take on the mortgage or force me to move out as I have the children so thiswas the only way we could split it really and me be able to keep him out of the house... he has no legal right of access to the house now o if he comes in I can have him removed same as any other person .. He had been coming in while I was doing school runs and had taken stuff of mine.