Can't get in touch with other person on household deed

benjybrown

Hello all,

Newbie here hoping to get advice on behalf of my sister. She seperated 7 years ago from her husband who went awol. They had bought a house together, both names are on the deed and both in the mortgage. She has paid the mortgage ever since they bought the house in 2007. She now wishes to sell the house but can not locate or get in touch with her estranged ex husband. The solicitors have tried twice and have failed. What options do we have for her?

Many thanks for your help in advance

G_M

Was the property not sorted out at the same time as the divorce?

What does your solicior advise as the next step?

davilown

Probably court is the best way forward

borkid

G_M wrote: »

Was the property not sorted out at the same time as the divorce?

What does your solicior advise as the next step?

She appears to be separated not divorced.

Pixie5740

In the OP he is referred to as a husband and an ex so which is it? Are they still legally married or are they divorced? What have the solicitors done in an attempt to locate the (ex)husband?

davidmcn

benjybrown wrote: »

She now wishes to sell the house but can not locate or get in touch with her estranged ex husband. The solicitors have tried twice and have failed. What options do we have for her?

Surely her solicitors know?! It'll need to go to court.

xylophone

It seems likely that there has not been a divorce - the parties remained married even though the husband left the wife for people and places unknown several years ago.

The wife has continued to pay the mortgage on the jointly owned property but this would not prevent the husband from having an interest in the equity on the sale of the property - if the wife died and the property is owned as joint tenants, then the husband or his heirs or assigns would become the sole owners.

If the husband really cannot be traced then I would imagine that the wife will have to approach the courts regarding an order for sale.

Since it would appear that the estranged husband has the right to at least some of the sale proceeds, there might have to be some legal arrangement whereby his money would have to be held in escrow?

benjybrown

Many thanks for the replies.

She is actually divorced, sorry I didn't make that clear in my original post. However, it was her understanding that he was never on the deed for the house. She says she only found out in the last few years that this was the case...she was naive and left the paperwork to him when buying the house.

Seems court is the way to go, but it's obviously going to grind a little that he is entitled to equity in the house although having never put a penny towards it. She just has to track him down of course...

Thanks again

davidmcn

benjybrown wrote: »

She just has to track him down of course...

Well, no, there are procedures for pursuing court action involving parties who have disappeared, otherwise nothing would ever get done. Not clear from what you say what tracing methods have been used so far and whether they've genuinely drawn a blank.

xylophone

She is actually divorced, sorry I didn't make that clear in my original post. However, it was her understanding that he was never on the deed for the house. She says she only found out in the last few years that this was the case...she was naive and left the paperwork to him when buying the house.

It seems extraordinary that a person can go through divorce proceedings without checking the ownership of a major asset.....

And when the house was purchased in joint names and with joint mortgage, surely she would have been required to sign the necessary documents and so know how the house was owned?

That said, as things stand, she will still need to approach the court for an order for sale - presumably her solicitor will advise.

With regard to the ex-husband's share of the equity, it seems likely that he would have provided (or be deemed to have provided) at least some of any deposit and made some part of the mortgage payments unless he slung his hook before the first payment had been made.

I should think that the court would determine the amount of any sum due to him and make an order as to how this was to be held on his behalf.

benjybrown

I apologise everyone. It turns out after speaking to my sister again they were never actually legally married.

Here's the latest....My sister actually bought the house in 2007. In 2009 she put her boyfriend on the deed (he managed to convince her to do this in order to buy another property). They bought another property together and when they split up, he conned my sister in to agreeing that he keep the bigger newer house and she keep her original house. He got her to sign over the bigger house solely to him, and he signed forged papers to say he was taking his name off the deed to her. Again she was very young and foolish, our family knew nothing of this was going on.

Anyway, his name is still on the deed to her house, and that's where we are. She is still to this day paying the mortgage and can't sell as she can't locate him. He's vanished. The solicitor has had 2 attempts so far at contacting him.

Sorry for the muddled up story line.