Forced house sale?

[atomicblonde30]

Regular poster but N/C for this as SIL knows my username. Warning LONG post.

Asking for advice on behalf of my brother, he separated from his wife 5 years ago divorce went through about 2. There was no financial order in the divorce, he doesn’t know why (he did it without a solicitor because of funds and ex-SIL had a good one.)

They have one child (7) my nephew and ex-SIL is still living in the family home. Family home was bought with a loan from our parents 23K in 2006 (can’t prove it was a loan) she contributed nothing, house is an interest only mortgage at around £270ish a month so zero of the actual balance has ever been paid off the house, the house has however gone up in value and now worth 20K more than original price due to extensive work my brother did to it.

So potentially 43k to be had if house is sold.

Thing is she won’t move, absolutely refuses to move, sell or buy him out. My brother is currently living in a shared house that’s all he can afford to rent on what he has left I’ve after maintenance (£150 per month but he pays £300) he has his son 6 nights and 7 days out of every 14 so a pretty decent amount and really needs his money back to access suitable housing for them both.

She keeps saying she has rights to stay until nephew is 18 and there’s nothing we can do but from what I can gather from a solicitor friend is that isn’t always the default formula but more everything is taken into account and both parents have rights to be adequately housed quite equally after a split. And nobody has any rights to enforce unless they have a court order saying so? Which neither of them have.

Ex-SIL has a very good job and with maintenance has an income of around 25K so could more than afford to buy somewhere else on her half of the deposit and any equity.

My brother has offered to pay all fees of a house sale (loaned by me) and take a reduced amount of 15k leaving her with 28K to rehouse herself. I’ve offered to loan him the money to fight this in court as I’m really worried about him and his mental health and feel closure would help him with this.

Basically what I’m asking is has anyone ever been through this and have any advice on whether he stands a chance or if it’s a lost cause before I shell out for £££ in solicitors fees.

Thanks. Sorry it’s so long wanted all the detail in.

Anyone?

Bumping for you

She does not gave automatic rights to stay there until child is 18

He needs to go to a solicitor, seek financial consent order which may involve a sake of the property.

You can get a consultation with a solicitor for free or for a minimal amount so you don't have to shell out loads to find out his rights. Only a solicitor can advise you here.

Does he have a copy of the divorce paperwork? Just to check he didn't agree a settlement.

First step is a solicitor and then maybe invite her to mediation as this is a cost effective way to get financial agreement. Court could use up all the equity.

Are there any pensions?

Hi all, thanks for responses. I’ll try to respond to everything here.

I have checked through all the divorce paper work and there is no financial order or mesher order of any kind. Though I will be handing this over to the solicitor to check through throughly.

House is in joint names.

Yes parents alive, money is from my aunts estate she left it to my mum.

He has a pension but it has barely anything in, she has a good teachers pension.

Doubt mediation would work at all, anytime he’s tried that before all he gets is ‘I’m not selling I have rights’ or something to that effect.

I should make you aware that there is a history of financial abuse, emotional and physical abuse from her towards him. So I feel she is relying on intimidation tactics rather than actual court orders which actually so far has worked, my brother very much so buries his head in the sand. He is has aspergers and stuff like this just floors him.

Firstly he has his DS 50% of the time therefore should be paying very little if any maintenance. He needs to see a solicitor, maybe you go too, he’s lucky he’s got you on his side.

Why is he paying maintenance? He has his kid 50% of the time. He shouldn't be paying anything.

See a solicitor and get everything done. He's made a mistake having her name on the house since she contributes nothing but too late now. Sell house, 50/50 on any profit made. No extra for her when she's contributed nothing. Really if he can prove that, he might get more.

Hi he pays the amount she says as if he doesn’t she threatens to withhold contact and follows through with it.

I’m am strongly encouraging him to instruct the solicitor to get the ball rolling on a child arrangements order so that control is taken away from her.

Maintenance according to the online calculator should actually only be 100ish, I thought it was more but it’s not. This is something I will encouraging him to change also as that would free up much needed money for him and my nephew.

Currently researching solicitors, I’ve found some that look promising and have good works of mouth so I’ll be calling them tomorrow, and yes I will definitely be going with. I know his trigger and can explain to the solicitor about his Aspergers and how it affects him.

@atomicblonde30, mediation is a requirement pre court action and a good mediator will highlight to both parties the likelihood shape of a settlement I.e 50:50 of assets.

£100 isn't much for CMS so assume he is a very low earner.
Her pension would form part of the settlement so he could use that as a way to get an agreement. A solicitors letter maybe sufficient to get her to an agreement. To be fair the house is precarious, due to no capital repayment, so she probadly is putting her head in the sand over the whole thing.