Solicitor's cheque on sale

castle96

Hi,
house owned as joint tenants, not married, no joint bank a/c. Female 'forcing' house sale to obtain her equity. Male doesn't 'need' money/equity ('yet'). Solicitor must????? draw a cheque payable to both parties. Cheque cannot be cashed as no bank a/c held. Can she require/request a cheque for 50% of proceeds.?
 (No joint a/c must happen quite often. What happens then? Are they just 'required' to open a joint a/c for the one off cheque?)

user1977

castle96 said:

Can she require/request a cheque for 50% of proceeds.?

Is the partner happy with that? I presumed "forcing" means not actually forced i.e. via a court order?

I think we've had a similar query before with the solicitor only prepared to send funds to a joint account. I can understand why they might have concern about accusations of splitting the funds in a manner which the other party isn't happy with.

It's not usually a problem because usually couples can agree how the funds are to be split and instruct the solicitor accordingly.

Racky_Roo

I've never yet had money from a sale of a house give to me via cheque, it's always been via bank transfer. Have the solicitors said it will be a cheque or are you making this assumption?
In my case, myself and ex partner confirmed with solicitor the split of funds and then the correct % was transferred to our own individual accounts after all the costs had been deducted.

user1977

Racky_Roo said:

I've never yet had money from a sale of a house give to me via cheque, it's always been via bank transfer. Have the solicitors said it will be a cheque or are you making this assumption?

Bank transfer means the solicitor either trusting their client about whose account the name is in, or them having to do further investigation. Much easier and safer just to send a cheque.

castle96

There is acrimony between them. She is in Slovakia, him UK. No Q of bank transfer, as no a/c! She put nil into house purchase. If it was a cheque, where would solicitor....(another Q... who would/could appoint the solicitor to act??)... send the cheque. His new address... her EU address.... He doesnt want her to get anything from house sale and while she can force it, would happily sit on any proceeds

castle96

user1977 said:

Racky_Roo said:

I've never yet had money from a sale of a house give to me via cheque, it's always been via bank transfer. Have the solicitors said it will be a cheque or are you making this assumption?

Bank transfer means the solicitor either trusting their client about whose account the name is in, or them having to do further investigation. Much easier and safer just to send a cheque.

A solicitor trusting a client!!??  Safer for who??!  I have had cheques in the past "Mr and Mrs". Did have a joint a/c though (you live and learn!)

user1977

castle96 said:

user1977 said:

Racky_Roo said:

I've never yet had money from a sale of a house give to me via cheque, it's always been via bank transfer. Have the solicitors said it will be a cheque or are you making this assumption?

Bank transfer means the solicitor either trusting their client about whose account the name is in, or them having to do further investigation. Much easier and safer just to send a cheque.

A solicitor trusting a client!!??  Safer for who??!  

Safer for the solicitor potentially facing action from the partner if it turns out it was an account in the other half's sole name.

If they can't reach agreement about how the funds are to be split then she might need to go to court. And if she doesn't have a bank account, where would the cheque be going anyway?

castle96

But a 1 x sole name cheque cannot be drawn. Each have their own a/c's

user1977

Well, if they can't agree on how the solicitor ought to split the funds, and can't open a joint account, I don't see much else that can be done other than go to court (or threaten to until the other party sees sense).

doodling

Hi,

Who is the solicitor acting for and in what capacity?  Are they acting for M in the matter of M vs. F (distribution of proceeds after end of relationship) or simply for M&F jointly selling a house?

In the latter case, I would expect that they would insist on payment to a joint bank account.

In the former case, I would expect that they would be able to do something different but, in the absence of a court order, they might insist that they cannot pay M his share until F has agreed her share.  They might also not accept F's agreement unless she has received independent legal advice.

Ultimately only your solicitor can advise what they require, but they will be very wary of anything which involves F's agreement if she is not legally advised.

sheramber

She can request anything she likes. What she is entitled to is another matter.

Who paid the mortgage?

What payments did she make- rent. food, utilities?

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/sorting-out-money/dividing-up-money-and-belongings-when-you-separate