Ex not engaging at all - what happens?

[JaffaCakesMum]

After a long marriage my partner's soon to be ex wife had an affair. My DP left the marital home to rent a flat. Shortly after that she moved her affair partner into the marital home. She has become unpleasant so my DP has engaged a solicitor, she has not replied to any correspondence. A mutual friend has told my DP that she has no intention of doing anything. DP's solicitor is now in the process of preparing court papers for the financial agreement. They don't have any dependent children and their finances are simply the house and pensions which will be split half the proceeds of the sale of the house and half of the total pensions each.

What happens if she continues to ignore the court proceedings (which is likely), will the court force them out of the house to sell it. Does this involve multiple court proceedings - 1. to get the financial agreement. 2. to get the house up for sale. 3. to get her pension cetv 4. to get them removed from the house, etc. How long is all this likely to take, has anyone been through this?

Yes, my partner has a solicitor but we were looking to hear from people who have actually lived this.

im going through it now with my exH.

he’s failed to attend 4 hearings so they popped a penal notice on the last one and I was awarded costs.

FH coming up. Barrister said they can and will make decisions on his behalf. Only house and pension to deal with here too. So, the courts do have means of making people engage….

I have a friend in the same position, horrid ex refusing to engage, being a general pain in the derriere, dragging things out. I think you just have to push ahead and be determined as hell to take them to task. But it all costs money and plenty and is exhausting. Most people would have the sense not to force things to court, due to the costs, animosity and impact on children, and to engage before, but some people just won't. I guess you have to hope that you can get awarded costs...I would hazard a guess that by the time it all gets to court, the person who hasn't engaged is less likely to have it all go their way.

What's the legal position with having access to the house? Might moving back into the marital home concentrate the ex's mind a little. I've no idea of the legalities of that though.