Ex stopping sale of house

[Anna713]

My son is recently divorced, not amicably, and has custody of his teenage daughter who resides solely with him. His ex wife was removed from the marital home by the police. The mortgage is in my sons sole name and he has always paid the mortgage by himself. Obviously because they were married some of the equity will belong to his ex. The house has been up for sale for several months, with her full knowledge and my son has just accepted an offer. His ex has told the estate agents to take the house of market. There is no financial order in place yet, mainly because she won't agree to anything. Can she stop the sale at this stage?

If there is no financial order in place what is going to happen to the proceeds of the sale? A financial order should really be in place before the divorce is finalised. I too would be objecting to the sale of a marital asset where there is no agreement on how the proceeds will be split.

There is no financial order in place. They tried mediation but his ex ended up swearing at the mediator and the mediator will not work with her.

Surely she will need a court order to stop the sale?
I'd just agree with her and sell it anyway.

My ex would not accept below a certain amount, eventually had to get a court order that said we would accept over a certain amount. Once it was sold we proceed with the final decree.

Are the house deeds in both names, or just in your son's? If the latter then as she's not on the mortgage either, she is unable to instruct the Estate Agent.

Has he got a lawyer?

Thanks all. He is checking the deeds now. He definitely needs a solicitor ASAP.

Wouldn’t matter if they are married she can register an interest in the property and prevent it being sold.

He needs t9 get the financial order.

If he's the owner on the Land Registry then the only option she has is to go to court.

There should have been a financial settlement, what does that say?

I put the Kybosh on the sale of my former matrimonial home but that was because it turned out my ex wife had 'significantly misrepresented her situation' and it was done via a Solicitor and the Courts

My son is the sole owner on the Land registry according to the gov.uk site. He has sent it to the estate agent as proof of ownership. He has told her he will give her half the equity when it sells. Does anyone know how long it takes to register an interest? He does not want to lose the sale . He has kept several emails that his ex sent previously demanding he sell the property ASAP but she has obviously changed her mind. I have told him he needs to get a financial order in place but it's the cost that's making him delay. Short sighted I know. He is just stressed and overwhelmed with the situation.

If they are married it is not his asset to sell. She can prevent it. Your son needs to do this properly. The last thing the sale of the property needs is to be tainted with divorce shenanigans. It is your son who is the problem here. He is acting as though he isn’t married and she doesn’t have an interest in the property.

He needs to do this properly if she is being non cooperative. Otherwise he will waste his own money and other people’s money.

Thank you LemonTT. You are right of course. He is actually divorced now but he does understand she has an interest in the property. He has no intention of not sharing the equity but it needs to be done legally for his sake as well as hers.

I am surprised that they are divorced but there isnt a financial settlement

To do it properly he needs to get a consent order. He can’t sell and split it up on his own terms.

She can apply for a Home Rights Notice to stop the sale (ie to say that she has an interest in the property). However if she isn’t on the deeds then the EA doesn’t actually have to contact her. You son needs decent legal advice - if she doesn’t have the HRN in place then he can sell it but can ask that the proceeds from the sale are held until a consent order has been approved. How long were they married for? Anything over 7/8/9 years is considered to be a long marriage and the starting point is 50/50 of all assets.

Sorry but it’s not up to him to decide to sell or decide her share.

she may be entitled to more ( or less) than 50%

as others have said he needs to get a financial settlement and consent order before selling. It doesnt matter that they’re divorced or that the house is in his name. It’s considered a marital asset and needs to be dealt with as such

If she won’t cooperate or agree in regards settles he has no option but put that through the courts for a decision and needs to stop the sale until this is in place. He needs to follow proper process.

Thanks all. His intention is to hold the proceeds with a solicitor until a consent order is agreed. They were married for 8/9 years. As the child from the marriage resides with him and has no overnights with her mother I believe he may be entitled to more of the equity but he intends to split 50/50 anyway. As I said earlier she was more than happy to sell the house up until now but she has changed her mind. Probably because she has had to start paying cms.

She has a legally enforceable interest in the property that means he cannot sell it without her consent. Even if the estate agents market it and find a buyer the sale will be stopped at the conveyancing stage. There isn’t going to be a sale if she objects. Just a lot of people wasting money.

It is not up to him to decide unilaterally what he can share, no matter how magnanimously, or to sell of marital assets.

It is your son who is acting rogue no matter what was agreed in the past or how fair he thinks he is being. The reality is he is out of order marketing a property he cannot sell. He can waste his own money this way but he will be wasting the buyers money as well.

I have shown my son all the responses. He is going to consult his solicitor as a matter of urgency before going any further with the sale.

Worth bearing in mind that he is responsible for the child of the marriage.

Has she paid maintenance or is she in a position to pay?

If he hasnt made a CMS application he should because clearly he may well have an argument that if she wont/cant contribute to their childs maintenance then any settlement needs to reflect this.

There is no hard and fast 50/50 rule see

https://www.nelsonslaw.co.uk/court-divide-matrimonial-assets-divorce/

Again though why wasnt there a financial settlement on divorce it sounds most unusual

It used to be the case that either the non/owning spouse needed to be in occupation of the MH, or have registered their interest at the Land Registry, if they wanted to be able to delay a sale until finances had been agreed.
I don’t know if that’s still the case, your son needs proper legal advice quickly. But if she isn’t there and hasn’t notified the LR of her interest, what is going to stop him from selling?
If I were in his shoes, I would do a very quick sale, with exchange and completion on the same day, and then rehouse himself and DD, and put some money aside for Ex pending resolution of financial issues. It sounds as if half would be more than reasonable, but he really needs proper legal advice.

Your son does not have any right to do all of this. The house is a joint marital asset and it would both illegal and immoral for him to try to sell this and unilaterally decide what happens to the proceeds.