would it BU to pursue this to court?

[charivari]

Divorce currently underway, nisi applied for and expected in about 6 weeks. Nearly 18 month ago a financial settlement was informally agreed, based on the then value of the marital home. However the agreed sum has yet to be paid and in the meantime property prices have risen considerably (about 15% or so)

There is no real potential for negotiation, its either take the financial hit (in the spirit of an 'amicable' settlement, or go through potentially lengthy court proceedings to try and secure a fairer outcome....is the money more important, or better to take the hit for a quicker settlement and keeping the peace?

Any one?

Who would take the 'hit' financially and why?
My papers have also just gone off for the Nisi.
But my solicitor informed me that although financial paperwork could be signed the court sometimes won't agree with it (reject it) and will want you to look at it more and make it more even if they feel it isn't quite right.
And a lot of the time, mortgage companies won't take just financial paperwork for this exact reason. They often want court sealed financial paperwork.
Surely if the Nisi is only just going through you can redraft the financial part before it's submitted to the court for approval/sealing??

There is no potential for an amicable settlement. So its either stick with what was previously agreed, but which given the passage of time wouldn't be a fair figure now as house prices have risen considerably, or actually go for a full on court hearing. Which would take time, money and be pretty stressful.

Are you divorcing a twat, by any chance?

What does your solicitor say on this?
They should be able to advise.
How much would you lose out on if you keep it as is?
You can't finalise the divorce without financials sorted (so I thought?)

Do the sums. How much more are you talking about realistically? How much extra solicitor fees are you going to incur with the extra work. If there's a massive gap between the two then pursue it.

Its not my divorce, its a family members (who asked what I thought they should do). The difference in value in the property then to now is about 30-35k, so could add another 15k to the final sum.

Its agreed in principle based on the old values...the issue is stick with that amount, or go all through a court hearing to get more. Solicitor says that the court would award more, but that most people don't want the stress of going to court.

Court will have o ratify the financial settlement, if you agree it's essentially rubber stamping unless it is manifestly unfair.

If you dont agree then they will not rubber stamp it and you will have to get invoved in resolving it, which will include fees etc. You need to decide how important fairness (in your eyes) is compared to being free.

I'm on the fence. My relative could manage without the extra money and doesn't need the stress, but its not a very fair outcome.

That said I don't want to encourage them to go to court and they end up regretting it. Tricky situation!

But surely the original paperwork mentions values and percentages.
If it does then you have a strong case for the court.
I can only guess that the costs would be around 5K and it may be that the person who is not cooperating would end up paying the costs.

Or negotiate on the back of an indication relative will go to court if extra £ is not forthcoming. Your relative would perhaps end up with £8-10k more, the other party is still getting more, no one pays court costs. I think it is worth a try.

There's absolutely no chance of negotiation - its either take what's been agreed or full-blown court action.

The court papers refer to the sum agreed but not any calculations. There is no evidence of house price increase, so my relative would have to get agents in to formally value etc.

Well I would say to your relative, decide purely on the basis of what you want most, more money or a swifter exit from the marriage and the divorce. So the ex makes a windfall profit because of rising house prices? Don't torture yourself thinking about the unfairness of that. Just decide what you want and can best cope with and go with that. If you need the money go for it, it isn't unfair or backtracking or grasping to do that. If most of all you want out, go, say goodbye to the cash and put the whole thing behind you.

Different context, but my relative got treated incredibly badly by a new boss and ended up negotiating redundancy. The money was fairly grudging and relative could have pushed for more but decided not to. It was worth it to be free of the situation faster, and relative decided to see it as taking control of one's own destiny and making a choice to go quickly and neatly, rather than it being a case of letting the boss get away with an underpayment.

Sometimes these things are all about how you frame them.

From watching my divorcing relatives go through court, I would say take the existing deal and get out.

My friend is in exactly the same positing! Divorcing an abusive cunt.

He is refusing to bet the house revalued. Prices gone up like, £30k since last year. Lots more agro and legal fees. Not sure if it's worth it or not.

I know house prices are in the increase and the papers are always saying they're going up by this much etc but it's usually a generalisation. Can I ask who advised your relative of the increase in prices? For instance has another similar house in the street been on the market?

Part of the issue is that the ex has dragged this out for ages. If it hadn't gone on so long my relative would've been quite happy with the original offer, which was agreed on the basis of a quick settlement which now hasn't happened.

They are looking to buy a house once the monies from the marital home are paid out so have been keeping up to date with local prices, houses are being marketed for considerably more than last year, and selling close to the asking price.

Any idea of additional court cost and time to get sorted? Prices will continue to rise so she might end up in the same situation again in 6 months time.

On the other hand if she's buying, she'll need everything she can to buy something.

Toughie.

I'd say that legal fees to chase £15k could see the whole benefit eroded.
Mental state of mind from a clean early break and getting on with your life are worth more than a few £1000 that might not even materialise
I know it's a lot of money but you can't buy back a list year of your life
Different story maybe if it was £50k, £100k etc but you might not see a penny of that money for all the Additional heartache and stress

Also the market is cooling a lot now I've seen it locally, people still asking top dollar but properties not selling = properties selling below asking. Be wary of generalisations about 'the market being up' without knowing what is selling, how fast an for how much u really don't know if that 10% applies to your property or not

Houses are being marketed for 25% more than a year ago in our area...im sure they're not achieving that level when sold but they are selling and even at less than the sale price are still clearly worth more than 18 months ago.

I agree re moving on quickly however this has already been dragged out by the Ex for so long and so many promises of payment made which never materialised, part of me thinks another few months won't make much difference.

For my relative its partly the principle of the thing, not just the amount.

A divorce dragged out through the courts will cost more than £15k
At a minimum, you'll be paying £1k+ for an impartial valuation from a surveyor, plus roughly £4k per hearing (solicitors to prepare, barrister to appear, court fees). If one party drags it out, it could take 3 or 4 hearings like my twat exh decided to do
Plus the emotional cost of it potentially going on for another 6+ months.

Personally, I would not lose my sanity for £15k, let alone for £15k that will be eaten up by legal fees and leave me with a couple of grand at the end of it...

Don't go to court for 'the principle of the thing', honestly.
Ruthless cost/benefit analysis is what's needed.

The potential benefit isn't just financial though, do they make a stand - and piss the ex off yet further, souring what limited contact they have (there are children involved so whatever happens they have to remain on some form of contact) or take what's been agreed and feel they've been walked over?

It is very difficult to know what would be the best outcome.

It is a very strange way to look at it to think they've been walked over.

The agreement was made in good faith at the time, and for whatever reason the it dragged out, dragging it out even more to get a nil sum gain at the end of it isn't winning. It is having a grudge.

I would walk away with my head held high and my sanity in tact. If the ExP is going to gloat over capitalising on this, it is nothing more than a reminder that they are right not to be in a relationship any more.

One thing that is also worth considering is that the courts may give joint rights to conduct of the sale, which means that neither party can turn down a reasonable offer. A reasonable offer in the courts eyes will be one close to the value the court has accepted for the house, so if your relative wants to force a quick sale on the house, and that means taking an offer close to the value 18 months ago, they may be able to do so via the courts.