What legal action can I take?

[MyMinnieMouse]

I hope someone can offer me some advice regarding a situation with my ex husband - sorry it's a bit long. We divorced last year quite amicably and sorted out financial and property matters between us without solicitors. We had two properties between us - I ended up buying him out of the more expensive one, whilst he remained in the cheaper one. When I bought him out, his name was removed from the deeds, with the understanding that he would arrange removing me from the deeds of the cheaper flat. Two years on this hasn't happened - I have been emailing, phoning and texting him to get him to sort it out, but to no avail. I can't do anything about it myself, because the property is in Italy, and I really don't think I would be able to work my way through the red tape, in a language I don't really understand - he is fluent so no problem for him. Whilst it's no big deal for me to still be on the deeds of this flat, I really don't want to to liable for any repairs, and I really just want to cut all my ties.

The other issue, is that we still have a joint bank account - I haven't used it for 3 years, but my name is still associated with it, and I am still 50% responsible for any overdraft accrued on the account. I have asked the bank to remove me from the account, but this can only be done with my ex-hb's approval. I have asked him repeatedly to write to the bank to sort it out - again, he has done nothing.

Last month, as a last resort, I wrote to him to ask him to sort out these issues, and said that if he didn't, I would have to take legal action against him. Now, surprise surprise, he's done nothing - I know he received the letter, and he promised me he would contact me on Wednesday just gone to let me know what was happening, but.... nothing.

Does anyone have any advice as to what legal action I can actually take - I really need to sort this out for my own piece of mind, but I really don't know how I can get him to act. Would a solicitor be able to help?

Thanks if you've made it this far - hope this makes some kind of sense!!

Instead of having your name removed from the joint account, can you instruct the bank to close it down? If they insist that both parties sign to do this, then you should write to them reiterating your request to close the account and explaining that your ex-husband is refusing to sign as required. State that you will not accept any liability for any losses accruing to this account if they refuse to close it or remove your name from it.

When you divorced, were there any court orders with regard to division of assets? If there is, you could apply to the court for an order than he comply with the original order. If not, I'm not sure you can do very much.

Thanks for your reply.

We sorted out the finances between us in principle before the divorce, so there are no court requirements - just our unwritten understanding of how we would divide the properties. Wish I'd done something a bit more legally binding now, but I thought he would carry out his side of the bargain