Getting a job / moving on after Consent Order - how???

[Greypaw]

My ex and I were divorced after a ten year marriage which had become abusive. We separated in June 2013 but he stayed in the house, then finally moved out in Jan 2014, straight in with his girlfriend. He has been putting down another address so he can claim not to be cohabiting which is fine with me. He hasn't paid the mortgage or any spousal maintenance since just after he moved in with his gf, though he did pay child maintenance for our two children. All this left me struggling financially, but after all the abuse I was just grateful to be on my own, and as he used money to control me I really wanted to get by without relying on him. Almost a year after he moved out of the house, I met someone else but we decided not to co-habit as I didn't want it to complicate the process.

A couple of months ago I finally had the Absolute and Consent Order finalised. Because I didn't want to go to court and face him after the trauma of the relationship, I requested a very simple clean break consent order, where I paid him a lump sum in return for the house being transferred into my sole name. I've made no claim on his pensions, properties, no spousal maintenance etc. He requested a sum that was equal to 25% of the equity of the house as it was valued when he moved out and stopped paying the mortgage. I had to borrow very heavily from family to do this, and still have to pay it all back.

Since then I have put the house on the market as the mortgage company wouldn't allow me to have a mortgage in my sole name, so I was hoping to sell this place, pay off the loan, and buy something smaller outright. When the estate agent came again this time, he valued it as significantly higher than it was last year. I don't think this should matter as I paid my ex an agreed sum requested by him, and based on what the house was worth when he stopped paying for it, but I don't know how relevant that is. I have the feeling that he will want to take me back to court for an adjustment. Bearing in mind I did not claim on any of his assets and I have our two young children to house, this could be disastrous as I may no longer be able to buy another house if he claims another lump sum.

I've read about "supervening events" when it comes to consent orders, and I'm worried that this is one of them. In another twist, I have recently been offered a director-level position in a company. This is like a dream-come-true as it means I can get back into work (I stopped work to bring up the children and the youngest has only just started school), and it means I'll have a salary again. The trouble is, I am again worried this will also qualify as a supervening event, as the dividends I'd be entitled to could potentially be higher than my ex-husband's current salary.

I don't want to turn down opportunities or put my life on hold, especially as he hasn't had to do any of that himself and it's been a long road to drag myself out of the mess he left me in, but I'm worried that all these things could leading to an overturning of the consent order. It's supposed to be a clean break order - when can I assume that enough time has safely passed in order for me to move on, accept a job, eventually co-habit/remarry etc etc etc? I'd have thought the fact that I had made no claims on my ex would mean he can't really take anything else away from me, but what if he takes me back to court to get more? Am I just being paranoid?

[DivorceAlchemist]

You will need to go and see a lawyer to get some specialist advice on this. There are general principles in the case of Barder v Barder. However, the court has interpreted it in many ways. If the supervising event happened within a year of the order being made, and if the court feels that these events invalidate the principles on which the order was made and the court seems the events significant and they feel as an appeal would likely succeed, then the matter may be looked at again.

Hope this helps.