When can we sell the house etc?

[BoringUsername17]

Dear all

Stbxh and I have agreed the important points re the finances and child arrangements . We are going to sell the house and each buy a smaller one.

We haven't started the divorce proceedings yet. He wants to be the petitioner and is going to submit the petition himself. Do we need to wait fir the consent order before selling the house and splitting the proceeds? Ideally we'd like to move in the school summer holidays but it seems unlikely that it will be done by then

It can be done very quickly if you're both in agreement and are being amicable about thing. For example deciding what % of the house you get, what furniture etc. Divorces can be done in a matter of week.

Selling and buying a house can take a lot longer

From what I've read on here, it seems that some courts are quicker than others. People have mentioned that Bury St Edmunds is backlogged currently. Yet I know divorced people in the South West and in Swansea who have found the process efficient (don't know which courts they had to use). So, the timing seems to depend on where you are. I can't find anything about turnaround times online - I've tried to find out for myself.

The only thing which has held up my divorce is the Financial order which the judge threw out first time. Now its just been re-submitted and I'm hoping it will go through so the Absolute can be applied for. If this all happens without another hitch it will be 2 years from when we first decided to split up to the divorce being finalised.

Do do do get the FO in place before the Absolut is applied for otherwise your ex will be entitled to a share of any pension, future inheritance or lottery jackpot wins!!!

I would start the financial consent order as once that is signed you can know the deal is done.
Our house is under offer and may go through in 6 weeks but no divorce or agreement yet on finances however both of us will go into rented as moving to a new area.
So yes you can market the house and accept an offer if you both feel happy with the amount.
I would speak to a conveyancing solicitor and ask if they would release the fundated according to your agreement which isn't a court order.

The court is Bury St Edmunds :(
The petition is I think being sent in today.
So it may be slow going.
Am I right to think that the nisi must be done before the financial order can be sent in to the court?

I am 90% sure that the consent order can go in at any point after the D8 has been submitted. If I'm wrong, someone will correct me I'm sure.

Well, Bury St Edmunds took nearly a year for me , , with everything been dealt with our end efficiently and quickly.

Petition sent February 2016 then decree nisi May 2016 once the Petition processed (so you can see how long it took).
Decree nisi came back from BSE August and then the signed consent order sent in. This had a query sent back end of October by the Judge. Finally consent order and then Decree Absolute pronounced Jan 2017.

Bury St Edmunds is so delayed - or at least mine was. Every stage sat with them 2-3 months, although they were only quoting a backlog of a couple of weeks.

We started mediation on finances in March after the petition was sent in and had agreed by the time of the decree nisi.

Good luck

Thanks all.
Im wondering if it's worth getting a separation agreement in the meantime? Has anyone done this. We are both keen to move on which means selling the house and splitting the equity. I think it would be best for everyone if we were out as soon as possible. As it could be a year until a consent order is approved by the court.
I also want to minimise the chance of STBXH playing silly buggers. He took my car keys away last week in spite. It would give me peace of mind to have a written agreement re finances to avoid him doing anything else like that

Thank you so much, familylaw solicitor that is exactly what I need to know. I think it will be a relatively simple case, there are no assets other then the house, pensions and car. The house we have agreed 60:40 split to me as the lower earner getting 60%. There is a car with value about £5k after outstanding debt that he will keep. The pensions I am not sure whether it's worth sharing, mine is a final salary and his is a money purchase. His projected income on retirement is higher than mine but mine is more certain.