Will I ever get the money?

[HideNorHair]

Hi, I would really appreciate some advice please.

In 2019, I got a consent order where it was agreed that XH would pay me £60k from the marital assets by October 2019. He has indicated on several occasions that he was preparing to list the property but hasn’t done so and has not paid me in this time.

I owe £10k for divorce costs to my parents so really need to pursue enforcement. I can’t afford a solicitor so will need to do this on my own.

How do I enforce the order and what are the chances I will actually get the money? I can’t afford to throw more money at this if I won’t receive anything from him.

Grateful thanks in advance

So there's a property presumably in his sole name. Get a charging order then apply for an order for sale. You will probably need a solicitor.

Yes, that’s correct - it’s in his sole name. Thank you so much, I will look into charging orders. I will try and do it myself first but consult a solicitor if I get stuck. I know he’d be happy to waste the entire property value before giving me or his children a penny so I’m being cautious about how much more money I throw at this.

His ex GF also got in touch to say he’d lied during financial disclosure and has a secret savings account but I guess as I only have her word for it and there is now a consent order, there’s not much I can do with that info.

You're entitled to interest on late payments at 8%.

Is it possible to pass it to a debt collecting agency, they take their fees from the added charges usually, I’ve no nodes if that’s possible is it worth looking at or speaking to some companies for advice?

He already owes you an additional £11K approx interest. 8% on £60K is a daily rate of £13.15. £4,800 per year.

I would point this out to him.

@MrsBertBibby

He already owes you an additional £11K approx interest. 8% on £60K is a daily rate of £13.15. £4,800 per year.

I would point this out to him.

Yes check the wording on your consent order mine says interest will be added if payment not made by the date agreed in the order.

It doesn't need to say interest is payable. Interest is statutory on a lump sum that size.

It’s the County Court (Interest on Judgment Debts) Order.

Oh wow, I did not know this. Thank you. I assumed interest would accrue after enforcement so this really helps.

Before posting this, I wrote to him giving him a deadline to either pay me in full (£60k) or list the property with permission for the estate agents to update me (the order states he must accept offers at or above a certain level so I thought this would help me monitor his obstructiveness) and that if he didn’t, I would seek enforcement plus costs, plus interest, plus rent (property is tenanted and I know I can’t claim for this but trying to frighten him into action).

I’ve downloaded the title deeds to check he hasn’t hidden the property and found two bankruptcy notices (latest 2020) and other charging orders. I’m understanding that he will likely be left with nothing if he sells which will partly account for him dragging his feet. I’m most concerned about the bankruptcy notices. Does this affect my claim at all please?

That's going to be messy. You can register a charge against the property, but you'll be after the official receiver and any other charges now.

If the order is not specifically a claim on the property, you can apply for an attachment of earnings, but again you'll be behind the OR.

You are entitled to the money, but I doubt you'll see much at all in the near future.

If he's been declared bankrupt I'm surprised the trustees haven't sold the house. How much equity is there.

If he’s been made bankrupt I’m not sure whether your debt is provable in the bankruptcy. You can no longer apply for a charging order as he no longer owns the property.

Thanks everyone. I’m kicking myself now for not getting a charging order at the beginning as I knew he would do anything in his power to stop me seeing a penny of the assets.

The bankruptcy notices are confusing as one was made in 2011, while we were still married although I knew nothing about it. I did a quick Google and found this:

There are two broad stages to the process of being declared bankrupt. First there will be a bankruptcy petition, where the debtor himself or his creditors apply to make him bankrupt and second there will be a bankruptcy order.
Once a petition is lodges, the courts must inform the Land Charges department at Land Registry who search their records to see if the debtor is registered as the proprietor of any land. If he is, they will register a Bankruptcy Notice against the title to any property he owns. This will state that the proprietor appears to be affected by an application for a bankruptcy order and it warns potential buyers that they may need to deal with a trustee.
Once a bankruptcy order is made against the debtor the Land Charges department will then replace each notice with a Bankruptcy Restriction. This prevents a transfer of ownership being registered without the trustee either signing the transfer (in the case of a sole proprietor) or being served with notice (in the case of joint proprietors). (www.land-registry-documents.co.uk/information/bankruptcy-legal-ownership-of-land/)

I wonder if there’s been a bankruptcy petition and therefore bankruptcy notice, but no bankruptcy order (yet) or it’s not been registered.

The house is worth around £200k, there is an interest only mortgage of £40k. Looking at the title, I believe one charge relates to legal fees as his (horrible) solicitor dropped him before the final hearing (I guessed at the time it was because he wasn’t paying his fees) and the dates make sense so I’d guess at £30-£40k? The other looks like council tax so perhaps £10k? Could there be other debts that aren’t secured on the house (no charging order registered) count as part of the bankruptcy? If not, there should be enough to pay me out too if I can get a CO.

I’ve honestly been through so much to get this order having self repped right until the final two hearings plus through CA hearings in tandem against a narc ex and his bullish solicitor. I will be devastated if it was all for nothing

Put his name in the bankruptcy register

www.gov.uk/search-bankruptcy-insolvency-register

I didn’t realise you can do this - thank you. He doesn’t appear on there so that’s a huge relief!

I'd crack on then, looks like you'll get your money after the charges have been paid and it seems as though there's enough equity.

@HideNorHair

I didn’t realise you can do this - thank you. He doesn’t appear on there so that’s a huge relief!

That doesn't mean he hasn't gone bankrupt. It just means that he isn't currently bankrupt. If he went bankrupt in the past, you need to find out what the Official Receiver decided about his property.

My aim is have the application ready to post this Monday hopefully. Should I lodge an application for costs with the N397 form or do I add the application costs to the debt owed on the form? I need to work out the exact interest owed as well.

@Lougle the property title shows him as the registered owner still. Does that mean he hasn’t been bankrupt in the past as I’d assume they would have sold the property? He also owns a commercial property jointly with his family members which I guess he could have sold his interest in. How would I find out if he’s been bankrupt previously please?

You can serve the London Gazette archives filter by people>personal insolvency and use his surname as the search term. If he has ever been made bankrupt after 1998 you'll find it.

Thanks so much Lougle. I can’t find any reference to him on there thankfully.

I’ve been researching the process but there’s still a lot I don’t understand on the form so I think I’ll need a solicitors help. I’m not sure if there’s a service where I can just pay for legal/procedural advice but I file the forms etc?

I’ve found a firm online who will do an uncontested CO for a fixed fee of £683 inclusive of court fees etc. Does this sound reasonable or would I be better using a high street solicitor please?

I’ve just realised that the council were able to get a CO 10 months after the latest bankruptcy notice was registered so that gives me confidence that I should be able to get a CO.

After some further reading, I understand 95% of the form so I will keep digging for the last bits.

Which bit you stuck on? Solicitor here. Now my area but I might have access to resources to help?

Thank you so much @eternalopt.

I did have a whole list but loads of googling and I’m just down to this last question that I can’t find an answer for:

The form asks for ‘claim numbers’ - I have a feeling that is something to do with CCJs but as my order was issued in the family court (and I will be lodging the CO application in the family court) do I use the divorce case number here as that’s what appears on the original order?

I’ve just remembered another thing I’m unclear on - the figure owed in the order is £60k, in the box below is the total amount owed of just over £71k which includes interest @8%. Do I need to provide a breakdown of how I reached this figure? I was going to put that in the additional info box (section 8). Is that right?

I called the court this morning and they were able to answer my last couple of questions so I’ve spent my day off printing everything and have just posted it all.

I just wanted to say thanks for everyone’s help with this. I’ve been avoiding sorting this given how emotionally draining and time intensive getting the order in the first place was. Today I’m feeling accomplished and ready to see it through