Legal advice/opinion - Court order to sell house following divorce (with Child)

big_boz

Right, I am a little confused by what i have read both online, on this forum, and also from advice received from a couple of solicitors so i am going to post here to see what people say and see if i can get any clarity or further opinions or avenues of investigation on the subject.

Having recently split from my wife in Oct'13 (divorce should be complete by End of March'14) I left the family home which we purchased in Feb 2005. I rented somewhere else and am still paying half the mortgage. Financially this is not an issue, ie i have no affordability issues with sustaining the 2 properties at present, however i am self employed and this might not always be the case.

I have not had access to the property since Oct'13 (no keys) and my wife is choosing not to live there. She claims there is work required for her to do so, but this is not the case and when i have repeatedly offered to pay for any required works to be completed she has turned down my offer, and is choosing to live at her parents house.

The split was not amicable, and now she is only letting me see my child once a week at the family home which he has never actully lived at, as an aside there is no CSA case in place , but i contribute more than 15% of my income along with paying for lots of other stuff for my son. In addition, she has implied to to CaffCas (child protection services) that she feels "threatened by me", this is nonsensical as i have never threatened her or raised a finger to her, however she has hit me in the past, also she has diagnosed mental health issues that could be construed as being detrimental to my child's welfare and ongoing care.

Now as she is clearly not making use of the property and trying to make my life as difficult as possible, i want to find out if i can submit a court order or have a court decide what should happen to the property. I don't think there is much equity in it, but I don't want to "waste" money on something that is not being utilised, and would be happy selling it, or indeed buying her out.

She earns more than the national average wage and has "stolen" all the joint savings from our joint account so could comfortably afford a new house in a similar area of similar standard with at least a 10% deposit.

Any help/advice/personal experience of similar situations would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

BitterAndTwisted

If she's not living in the jointly-owned property why don't you just get a locksmith round, move back in and save the rent you're paying?

YOU MUST NOT go forward with a divorce unless it also includes the financial settlement.

If she's unwilling to agree to the sale of the property then your only recourse would be to go to court to force a sale. This could be very, very spendy and if at the moment there's little to no equity, I don't think there's any point in doing so.

big_boz

Thanks B.A.T

I know i could gain access to the property, several solicitors have said that in actual fact i could just put a window through so long as i pay for any damage given that its my house, but frankly im being as calm and reasonable as i possibly can, and as it stands i don't need or want anything from the house, so the issue of access isn't something im bothered about at present.

The finance side of it im not bothered about as it stands either at present.

Regards the financial settlement, when i spoke to my solicitor about the papers i received and sent back, there was no listing or mention of any financials so i just signed and returned them to the court on her advice.

The house is in joint names on the land registry and the mortgage. She wont agree to anything other than me continuing to pay 50% of the mortgage as in her words "She dosent want to not be on teh property ladder at age 31". Given the land registry and mortgage, I suppose at the end of the day the property will increase in value over time so any eventual future sale will yield me a profit, but I wanted to know what i could do to force the issue if anything. Having submitted a court order for something else i know its fairly simple and i can do this myself, i just don't want to waste my money if its not likely to do anything.

tom9980

I don't understand why nobody is living at the house, if she wont then you should be surely?

You must insist on a financial clean break from the divorce anything short of this will be the worst mistake you ever make.

RAS

Your need to talk urgently to your solicitor about a Financial Consent Order and clean break settlement. That is how the decision is made about the house sale or otherwise.

At present you could pay 50% of the next 10 years and find your ex awarded in excess of 50% of the equity.

Apart from the business do you have any other assets like pensions.

Do you have copies statements for the savings accounts showing her withdrawla of the assets?

big_boz

The issue of no-one living in the house is that which i wish to address. I am tied into a 12m lease on the proptery i have rented now, but frankly i prefer it so would rather live there anyway.

I have decided to engage my solicitor properly to resolve all issues now anyhow so will just pay up and let the professionals crack on.

RAS

Read JackRS's thread on here although his wife remains in the house and his children are older.

big_boz

The issue of no-one living in the house is that which i wish to address. I am tied into a 12m lease on the proptery i have rented now, but frankly i prefer it so would rather live there anyway.

I have decided to engage my solicitor properly to resolve all issues now anyhow so will just pay up and let the professionals crack on.

brenda10

big_boz wrote: »

Right, I am a little confused by what i have read both online, on this forum, and also from advice received from a couple of solicitors so i am going to post here to see what people say and see if i can get any clarity or further opinions or avenues of investigation on the subject.

Having recently split from my wife in Oct'13 (divorce should be complete by End of March'14) I left the family home which we purchased in Feb 2005. I rented somewhere else and am still paying half the mortgage. Financially this is not an issue, ie i have no affordability issues with sustaining the 2 properties at present, however i am self employed and this might not always be the case.
No matters of any finances will be considered until CHILD CARE arrangements sorted out, the child comes first.

I have not had access to the property since Oct'13 (no keys) and my wife is choosing not to live there. She claims there is work required for her to do so, but this is not the case and when i have repeatedly offered to pay for any required works to be completed she has turned down my offer, and is choosing to live at her parents house.

The split was not amicable, and now she is only letting me see my child once a week at the family home which he has never actully lived at, as an aside there is no CSA case in place , but i contribute more than 15% of my income along with paying for lots of other stuff for my son. In addition, she has implied to to CaffCas (child protection services) that she feels "threatened by me", this is nonsensical as i have never threatened her or raised a finger to her, however she has hit me in the past, also she has diagnosed mental health issues that could be construed as being detrimental to my child's welfare and ongoing care.

Now as she is clearly not making use of the property and trying to make my life as difficult as possible, i want to find out if i can submit a court order or have a court decide what should happen to the property. I don't think there is much equity in it, but I don't want to "waste" money on something that is not being utilised, and would be happy selling it, or indeed buying her out.

She earns more than the national average wage and has "stolen" all the joint savings from our joint account so could comfortably afford a new house in a similar area of similar standard with at least a 10% deposit.

Any help/advice/personal experience of similar situations would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

Child matters have to be sorted first, then financial side.
your story is so like my brothers, his oh took all his money, fought for his child who he had also cared for with him biggest caring role as she couldn't have given a toss about the child(6 now). He worked full time also, she worked part time.
Is she a controller?
Does she put you down?
Read about NARCISSTS and see if that description is one you could tick most of the boxes to.
My brother gave up in the beginning as he was married for many years and was under her complete control and continued threats, she also controlled the money completely.
He went back to her after removing the child for few days, she bluffed him into returning and things got worse for him, he then saw sense, she would never change her ways because she didn't want to, he was her slave and should never answer back.
We supported him financially to seek legal advice and 1 year later he has 50/50 contact and 50% less time for a child to be with its 'monster' not mother. She also wanted to relocate over 350 miles to another country, the judge seen through her nonsense and said no, child established in school etc and CAFCASS visited and took child's views into account that she wanted to spend time with her daddy also. Partner not too happy but it is good for the child.


You need to fight for contact, seek legal advice if you can afford to, the courts are much more for men now, genuine men, often these women paint a picture of vileness trying to restrict contact and break a loving bond between child and father and that is their downfall, the courts can see through them although some of them are practised actresses.


btw if she is happy to divorce that is a good start , if she doesn't can take 5 years before the court orders divorce and up until then she is entitled to 50% of everything including pensions, has she put in her financial disclosure etc, don't let her away with it, but it needs to be traceable by paper trails, ask your accountant if self employed if he sees any sign of money being transferred in and out of your joint account etc. Forensic accountants cost over 5k but it needs to be worth ie you get back many thousands of pounds otherwise too expensive in legal costs.
Same happened to my brother, he is at stage now of following up on paper trail for finances.
If clean break then u get what you have now, she keeps what she has now, straight down the middle.
marriage breakups are often not fair re o/h stole all money and it is horrible. Keep the bond with your child.x

brenda10

ras wrote: »

your need to talk urgently to your solicitor about a financial consent order and clean break settlement. That is how the decision is made about the house sale or otherwise.

At present you could pay 50% of the next 10 years and find your ex awarded in excess of 50% of the equity.

Apart from the business do you have any other assets like pensions.

Do you have copies statements for the savings accounts showing her withdrawla of the assets?

very good advice