Enforcing financial settlement

[essexmum777]

Grateful if anyone can advise - my friend had a financial order made as part of her divorce that her ex would sign the (jointly mortgaged) house over to her and she would sign over some land to him. However he has not signed the house over and is refusing to sign to accept the land - she applied to go back to court to enforce but the listing was cancelled when coronavirus hit and hasn't been re-listed, she is wondering if she could get legal aid to help her go back to court?

Also - the mortgage is several months in arrears so even if the court did sign it over to her, is the bank likely to re-mortgage it in her sole name?

She won't get legal aid for that. You say he hasn't signed the house over. It's for her to get the paperwork in place, and that includes either a new mortgage or consent from the lender.

The court cannot make the lender agree. They should have been served either with a copy of her application to court and been given a chance to object, or with the consent order prior to filing with the court. She'll have to apply for a mortgage. To be honest if she hasn't even got that far yet I suspect she'll get short shrift from a judge.

feck, but thank-you - you're right reading the order it does say that she needs to get the mortgage in place / consent - and it also says that she is responsible for all payments and arrears and indemnifies him against liability.

As its 6 months in arrears I think a new mortgage is unlikely, she wants to sell, perhaps that might be the way forward - and if he refuses to sign the sale, then go back to court?

Just wondering, if she changes the application to force a sale, would the judge be un-favourable due to the fact she hasn't asked the ex to agree to a sale beforehand?