Dispute over house sale proceed split

sav_606_rebels

Hi all,
Hoping someone can help...
I have a jointly owned property with my ex-partner. We are divorced and they instantaneously remarried. There was never a financial settlement as my ex wanted to marry immediately and so by-passed the opportunity to make any claim. As I understand, now that they are remarried, they are unable to now make a financial settlement claim.
As a result, my understanding is that the proceeds of the sale of our property after fees / mortgage return should be split equally, as it is jointly owned. There is no financial need for an inequal share, as the remarriage satisfies my ex's financial needs. My ex does not agree and the conveyancer is saying that the sale cannot complete without agreement of how the funds are to be split.
It seems to me that this is now a property dispute only and therefore I would like the courts to decide on the split. 
Does anyone have any knowledge of this process / where to start / what this looks like / which specific bits of law I should be reading? Everything I can find relates to during / prior to divorce, or after divorce but not before remarriage - I cannot find anything for this situation where there is no financial claim between us. I intend to self-represent.
The house has been vacant for a year and my ex makes no contribution towards the mortgage or bills. 
Any advice welcome. 

silvercar

My limited understanding is that by remarrying, your ex could lose out as any claims of hardship would look at the needs of the new spouse. It also means that any financial settlement could look at the finances in broad terms of the new spouse eg your ex couldn't claim to have nowhere to live if the new spouse owned a property.
I doubt the act of marriage negates any need for a financial settlement with you. 

spender717

Did she start any financial proceedings at all before remarriage? As even ticking the correct boxes on the divorce forms means she can still claim a lump sum order etc. 
Your best bet is to instruct a solicitor just to tell you the correct process and then represent yourself from there. It will be worth a few hundred pounds to be given the right legal advice.
If she didn't start any financial stuff (which includes the divorce forms at the beginning where you tick the boxes for what financialrelief you will be applying for) then you'd be able to force a sale as 50/50 I'd imagine. Do you have any children? 

ncass

Most solicitors will give you a free 30 mins consultation, i would suggest visiting one. I'm no expert, but from memory (divorced a few years back) entering a new marriage would likely only prevent her from claiming ongoing maintenance payments. Unless a settlement agreement is in place you've never formally agreed a split of assets (drawn a line in the sand) and so a claim could be made at any future point.

This was my understanding at the time but definitely get some legal advice

TBagpuss

Your wife can't start proceedings unless she ticked the right boxes on the form before she remarried, butyou can still make an application, (assuming you have not remarried) and the court will then consider both sides. 
Alternatively either of you could apply under ToLATA.

That said,any of those processes will take time and money. What is your ex proposing should happen, and on what basis? Are there assets other than the house, at all?

sav_606_rebels

ToLATA seems to be just what I was thinking about, so am having a look at that, thank you. Seems the "loser" bears any costs in this situation so am of opinion that my ex would run a mile given the potential expenditure. This may be beneficial, thank you. 

There are no other assets to speak of on my behalf, but she has a very small business which she started whilst we were separated but not divorced. 

She had ticked boxes for a financial settlement I believe, as we did start the Form E process and even had a draft consent order drawn up, but she abandoned it when she realised how long it would take, and then also revealed the fact of, and then (very) impending date of her remarriage. In the draft consent order, I had agreed to an inequal split of the house funds as she had made out that she was single, living in small rented accomodation and had no partner, let alone intent to remarry. As it transpires, this was clearly not the case. Consent order abandoned and remarried within a matter of weeks. Now that the situation is more clear, I see no reason why a 50/50 split isn't appropriate. There are no additional housing needs, she is supported by her wealthy new husband and the children live in a beautiful large home. I pay Maintenance via CMS for the children and live with my parents as I cannot afford a deposit until the sale completes. This means the children stay with me at their grandparents which is not sustainable long term.

AdrianC

How did you own the property?

Joint tenants?
Tenants in common? What proportion?

The conveyancer is conflating two issues in saying they can't complete the sale. They certainly CAN complete the sale... but they can't then disburse the funds without mutual agreement.

I'm assuming both parties have signed the contract, and it's exchanged...? If that's happened, then the conveyancer is causing problems in not completing... If you haven't exchanged yet, then have both parties signed the final contract?

sav_606_rebels

Joint tenants.
No completion / exchange yet and no signatures anywhere, but its not too far away I suspect. The buyers have completed and exchanged on their property, we are told. 

Thrugelmir

Do not self represent. Seek advice from a family law solicitor. You need someone to present your case. 

Tooskint

Having just gone through this you will need a memorandum of understanding or something else that has gone to court saying how you have agreed it to be split before you can sell probably.  Going to your solicitor best bet.  This will also be needed so they cant access your pension etc.  Everything to do wth getting separated etc really expensive and hard going