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

I like the advice given here but please don't set your hopes too high. The number of applications that progress to the sale of property are tiny and the delays are huge atm. I'm not being a debbie downer, just realistic

Thanks @Soffit, that’s helpful to know. If I can get the charging order, that will be something at least but I will try to stay realistic about getting an order for sale and I won’t expect it any time soon.

There’s something confusing me now. Having read up on the stages, I know that initially the CO is registered as an interim order. I’ve just noticed the two other charges on the title are interim charges. My understanding is that there will have been a hearing and if a charging order is not made, the interim notice must be removed so I don’t understand why it appears in the register as an interim CO. Anyone know please?

@HideNorHair

Thanks *@Soffit*, that’s helpful to know. If I can get the charging order, that will be something at least but I will try to stay realistic about getting an order for sale and I won’t expect it any time soon.

There’s something confusing me now. Having read up on the stages, I know that initially the CO is registered as an interim order. I’ve just noticed the two other charges on the title are interim charges. My understanding is that there will have been a hearing and if a charging order is not made, the interim notice must be removed so I don’t understand why it appears in the register as an interim CO. Anyone know please?

Good luck with it. I suppose the main advantage of it would be that it creates hope and even unrealistic hopes are better than no hope. It tides us through the difficult moments in life.

The guide I've got says

It was thought that registration should be effected as soon as the interim charging order had been obtained, rather than waiting for the final charging order, in order to prevent the charge being defeated by failure to register. If a final charging order was not obtained, the Land Registry should be informed so that the registration is removed.

So the creditors probably registers as quickly as possible as per the above and then, as the notice was already there, didn't bother to pay again to register the final one if they thought they already had sufficient protection. If they hadn't obtained a final order however, the registration would be removed so it's not that

Also, still go for the charging order to ensure your debt is secure, but doesn't stop you considering other ways to get the money too. Maybe have a think about whether making him to go to court to give information about his assets would help you decide what to do next to actually get cash and not just security for it. Have a look at www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part71

Applies in family proceedings as well by virtue of 
rule 33.23 of the family procedure rules (which just change 71.2 to say the application has to be issued in the high court or in the family court designated to the case).

If you can find a bank account with some money in, you can then try and get your hands on that with a third party debt order.

Thank you so much @eternalopt. That’s really helpful. And timely since he told our daughter tonight that he’s selling the house and ‘it’s going through in a week or two’. Whether that means listing it or he has a buyer, I’m not sure. I just hope the interim order comes back before he completes, otherwise I’ll have to go down the third party debt order.

@eternalopt

Also, still go for the charging order to ensure your debt is secure, but doesn't stop you considering other ways to get the money too. Maybe have a think about whether making him to go to court to give information about his assets would help you decide what to do next to actually get cash and not just security for it. Have a look at www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part71

Applies in family proceedings as well by virtue of 
rule 33.23 of the family procedure rules (which just change 71.2 to say the application has to be issued in the high court or in the family court designated to the case).

If you can find a bank account with some money in, you can then try and get your hands on that with a third party debt order.

Aren't third party debts orders much harder to come by these days because of the expansion in banking options out there? How could she go about finding out bank details (other than teaching DCs to do some specialized detective work?) It's no longer a toss up between Natwest, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds which was the case previously.

That's why you'd go for the part 71 type application first - an order to obtain information from a judgment debtor - to find out where the accounts are. No help against someone prepared to lie under oath, but can help.

But that's my view as someone not routinely doing this sort of stuff! Just suggesting stuff.

@eternalopt

That's why you'd go for the part 71 type application first - an order to obtain information from a judgment debtor - to find out where the accounts are. No help against someone prepared to lie under oath, but can help.

That's interesting, definitely worth considering. Unfortunately, the type who lie under oath without an ounce of remorse are also the ones behaving in this way. There seems to be no shortage of them around!

I am aware of some of his accounts from disclosure during divorce but I have no doubt he would happily lie in court as he frequently did so on demonstrably provable things, e.g. he would claim in court he was paying child maintenance whereas I had letters from CMS showing he was in £££ of arrears. Not once was I ever asked to show this proof though.

Just to complicate matters, he’s just gone self employed (again) in order to avoid child maintenance and the CMS told me they’d seek a third party debt order to try recover some of the money he owes so there’s no point in me pursuing one as well unless he sells the house (I have land registry alerts set up).

@FAQs

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?

I doubt it. If this was the case, a lot of people would find themselves pursued in this way when a Mesher Order came to an end.

A little update: I got the ICO and have registered it with Land Registry.

My next step is to serve everyone before I start preparing for the hearing which will be by phone.

I’m planning to claim interests and costs. Could anyone tell me how I should request that at court please? I’m also not sure exactly what I can claim for (time, court fees, postage costs etc) if anyone can point me in the right direction please?