Can my separated wife stop me from selling a house I solely own?

MaryNB

Snookie12cat said:

scoot65 said:

Regarding her noticing the house up for sale, you ask the estate agent not to erect an sale board at the property.
 

Won't work. I didn't have a for sale board but people browse Rightmove... She will find out.

Also I'd be worried if she is still friendly with some of the neighbours. They could easily spot an EA doing viewings, or a buyer could knock on their door asking about the area. It would be the first thing they say to her if they are still in contact with her.

Section62

Elliott.T123 said:

Can you not just sell without her knowing, she cant stop what she isn't aware of. It obviously depends on how hot the property market is in your area but in a lot of places currently demand is well above supply so find a good estate agent and agree that the property will not have a sign outside or be advertised on rightmove etc, it will be proactively targeted to buyers that way you could have sold it before she even knows it was on the market.

People are a lot smarter than you give them credit for.  There are many ways of finding out a property is being sold, without needing to see a 'For Sale' sign in the front garden or an advert on Rightmove.

As the vendor you have the risk of the sale being stopped when the partner finds out what is going on, with the potential risks that involves for both the sale and (presumably) purchase of a new home.

And then even if your cunning plan works, when the divorce ultimately happens, the wife can use the concealment of the sale of a potential matrimonial asset as evidence of the (husband's) untrustworthiness and deceit.

When it comes to divorce - as in relationships - honesty and openness is the best policy in the long term.

If the OP follows the advice of Sandtree (and others) then if the wife continues to attempt to block the sale the courts will ultimately take the decision out of her hands. Legally.

TBagpuss

You can divorce her for 'unreasonable behaviour' or you can wait until the change in the law comes into effect this April and divorce her then, when not reason other than that you believe the marriage has broken down irretrievably needs to be given.

If you chose to start now, then if she fails to return the paperwork you can arrange for personal service and continue.

She could apply for a Matrimonial Homes Rights notice which would make it difficult for you to sell, but if you start divorce proceedings you can (and should) seek to sort out the financial side of things, by agreement if possible and if not, by way of a fincial order. If she choses not to cooperate in that process then she can slow it down and that's likely to make it more expensive, but ultimately a court can make an order and once a final order has been made, that or your decree absolute can be used to remove ay matrimonial home rights notice. 

Similarly, while she *could* potentially apply for an injunction (s37) they are relatively rare an are temporary, to ensure that assets are not dissipated before a financial order is made. 

Either way, the sensible thing to do is to proceed with a divorce and apply for a financial order. Given that we are already in February, waiting until April probably makes sense 

breakfast_epiphanies

You do know that the divorce rules are changing in April? You won’t need her consent. 

Elliott.T123

Section62 said:

Elliott.T123 said:

Can you not just sell without her knowing, she cant stop what she isn't aware of. It obviously depends on how hot the property market is in your area but in a lot of places currently demand is well above supply so find a good estate agent and agree that the property will not have a sign outside or be advertised on rightmove etc, it will be proactively targeted to buyers that way you could have sold it before she even knows it was on the market.

People are a lot smarter than you give them credit for.  There are many ways of finding out a property is being sold, without needing to see a 'For Sale' sign in the front garden or an advert on Rightmove.

Yes you are right he should do it that way and take as much risk as possible out of the process, however I would argue with your opening statement. Unfortunately in both my personal and professional experience people are far far stupider than I like to give them credit for.

frtfge100

I did not know about the new rules from April.

Thank you so much guys, that changes everything for me. I will just divorce her when the new rules come in. I am very happy!