Divorced but he won't sign deed transfer

[BettyBloomfield]

I am divorced but ex will not sign the TR1.

I know I can go to the DJ and ask him to sign it but my sol wants £2500 for this. Originally he estimated £500 to sort this but has written to ex three times (why?????) and had a long conversation with him (why?????????) and racked up £1000 bill for me..... and is now estimating £2500+VAT to finish the job

I've asked him to stop work because I think he was taking the mickey tbh and I don't have that money

I still have to get the thing signed though.

Meanwhile ex has petitioned for bankruptcy. (So I can't claim ex costs from him)

Is this something I can handle myself? Does anyone have any advice?

The District Judge can order it. Gather all information you have so far and Self Represent. A Mackenzie Friend can be sought in the Court for help and assistance.

Research research research.

Good luck.

Nowhere near enough info. Do you have a court order that he has to tf the house to you? If not, £2500 is dirt cheap, and the bankruptcy a real problem that could add around £5000 to your costs. I'd say that the £2500 est assumes it will settle without going to court.
If you already have the order, what came first- the date by which he had to tf the house or the bankruptcy petition?

Yes I do have a sealed court order that he has to transfer the house. It is several months old now (10?). He has to sign the TR1 and it is all correct as per court order.

The petition for bankruptcy is 2 weeks old.

I went to the sol in Jan asking for the conveyance to proceed asap. I wanted it taken to court asap because of bankruptcy threat.

The reason I'm upset is because the sol wrote to ex repeatedly and took 'long' phone calls and we still haven't gone to court or even made any move in that direct. I wrote a letter to sol telling him ex will rack up my costs by prevaricating and I didn't wish to pay for that. Fair enough negotiate but we've negotiated enough. He has refused to sign. I want to get it through court before he petitions for bankruptcy (sol advised of this in Feb). The sol wrote 3 more letters to ex basically saying same thing.

TBH at times it was hard to know if sol wasn't on my exs side but being paid by me. He'd promise to do things then not do them. He quoted me £500 originally and then the costs increased drip by drip by drip. I feel he's played me like a fish. He now thinks I've paid enough that I will follow through and he can ask any figure he likes. The costs just ramped up faster than I can afford them. I cannot find that money so my ex gets the house?

I just want the court order complied with. Is a court really so meaningless?

To be clear:
The sol wrote 3 more letters to ex saying same sort of fluffy thing i.e. please sign. No date by which to comply. No clarity to the letter (No point to the letter from my point of view)

The only letter that he says he sent giving an ultimatum (time wise) the sol will not share with me which makes me wonder why he won't?

Last line is meant to say is a court order meaningless? So I've paid once to get a court and order and now have to go through whole process to get it again? but this time pay more to get the court to enforce it?

The court order isn't meaningless. TBH I'd be sacking your solicitor and posting off an application to enforce the consent order if I were you.

You should refuse to pay the bill and unless they give you a big discount, threaten to report it to the Law Society.

I have already dis-instructed the sol and queried the fees (no response so far to that!) I asked for copies of missing letter at the same time. This is my 'evidence' that ex has refused because ex is ignoring all approaches. He has been e-mailed/phoned and sent letters.

I'm assuming I fill in the D11 which doesn't terrify me now
I am asking the judge to either force ex to sign or to sign the TR1 themself?

I have evidence of consent order and two letters and dates regarding further requests to sign

I have already self repped to get through the divorce and self repped because he stopped paying child maintenance.

I'm ready to tackle this myself because I've now lost faith in paying a solicitor to do it and just don't have the sort of money it would seem to require.

Bankruptcy won't affect the order. You need an order that the judge is authorised to sign the transfer in his behalf. Take the transfer to the hearing so the judge can sign it there and then, and leave the rest to the conveyancer. I agree you need to challenge the bill of your ineffective solicitor. Should only have cost £500.

Thank you :)

I'll let you know how I get on

I have a court date.

The official receiver is also invited to the hearing.

I understand that the OR would normally attach a Form J to the deeds and leave in both our names but because I'm asking to be transferred into my name now I have no idea what he will want

I'm ready for the argument to set aside the court order (can't see how they can tbh)

I'm hoping the OR agreess for deed transfer into my name with charge to them.

Should I take alternative TR1's to court (one mainly blank) to allow for the judge to sign if we reach agreement. The DJ allowed just 10minutes for the hearing. (Not long is it!)

Speak to your conveyancer about that.

The OR has told me he will not be disputing the court order.

I haven't got this in writing but he has written to me to say I now deal with him and he instructed my ex to sign the TR1 (which he has done)

No response from my sol.

The TR1 has gone to same firm (different person) to be processed and I'm waiting to hear from the court regarding the now probably unneccessary court date.

All good

Hello @BettyBloomfield

I am in same boat as you were and really struggling . It is very stressful for me as ex not signing TR1 form . He wants to get lump sum first . My OR has suggested that they need TR1 from him first thing , and he is finding ways to accrue interest and may be wants ways to set aside of the order .

Please can you guide me what happened in your case, what did Judge said , did you self represented . Kindly guide me as I am very stressed.