Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

[ohitsonlyme]

Just got the chance to getting back on my feetMy ex wife and i own a property with a 5 acre field, I have fought tooth and nail against all of my creditors for nearly 8 year to hold on to it in the hope to eventually gain planning permission
I have now got a very strong indication it will get approved for affordable housing and I've got a company to pay all fees involved for a fixed win fee(not the lottery win I wanted but never the less a substantial amount more than ex and I had before the collapse)


I rent the house out in order to pay the mortgage and the mortgage to the 6bedroom 3 bathroom house that ex has lived in since separation
We are divorced but ancillary relief was never settled due to complexity of property and property companies jointly owned.
Ex spent £20,000on solicitors and this is now entered as a restriction on the house and field as also a £30000 capital gains tax bill issued to ex by Hmrc
I have paid most of my tax liability and not got anyrest rictions on the property.
ex is refusing to sign up to a promotion agreement unless I give her 70%of the money due to come in
She has a misguided opi nion that I had lots of money before the recession kicked in and does not accept that the recession wasn't my fault
We lost 2 companies both with good equity to the banks and tax man, hence my fighting on here!
Ex will not sign and has an illness she says is killing her and using emotional blackmail to get her way I am not budging
She is now also telling me that her solicitor are applying for an order for sale
Can I stop this,?
The property is held as joint tenants
Onlyme again

[nanna58]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

So sorry for you situation hang on someone will be along shortly.

[SA Gold]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

evening ohitsonlyme,
sounds complicated mate - there seems to be a lot going on involving land and property. Is there children involved with the split? You say the ex has spent 20K on solicitors - what you have done? I assume they have been in contact with you.

[PlanB]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

I rent the house out in order to pay the mortgage and the mortgage to the 6bedroom 3 bathroom house that ex has lived in since separation
We are divorced but ancillary relief was never settled due to complexity of property and property companies jointly owned.

. . . . She is now also telling me that her solicitor are applying for an order for sale. Can I stop this,?

Was there a formal court order at the time of your Decree Absolute? If there was then it can be enforced and the court can order the sale of the property if the order said your wife was entitled to a share of it.

These things normally have a date stamp i.e. after kids have left home etc. But from what you say this particular property is nobody's 'home' it's a 'rental investment' in the eyes of the court and therefore an asset which can be disposed of without causing any disruption to children etc.

I assume there are children involved otherwise there would be no need for you to pay the mortgage on a six bedroom house.

If there was no court order then she has an uphill climb.

[ohitsonlyme]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

QUOTE (PlanB;457658] there a formal court order at the time of your Decree Absolute? If there was then it can be enforced and the court can order the sale of the property if the order said your wife was entitled to a share of it.

These things normally have a date stamp i.e. after kids have left home etc. But from what you say this particular property is nobody's 'home' it's a 'rental investment' in the eyes of the court and therefore an asset which can be disposed of without causing any disruption to children etc.

I assume there are children involved otherwise there would be no need for you to pay the mortgage on a six bedroom house.

If there was no court order then she has an uphill climb.[/QUOTE]

6 years ago At the time of the absolute we could not agree the ancillary relief

I have no children with her.

She moved out of the marital home with 5acres into a 6 bedroom property that we rented out
I stayed in the marital home and after a couple of years started a new relationship, my new partner, now wife didn't want to live there so I moved into her home and rented mine
Ex has never worked and I have always paid and still do pay the mortgage
The rent pays both mortgages I pay my CGT bill with the balance.

I am concerned that the restriction entered by her solicitor following gaining a ccj on ex for unpaid bill can be enforced by an order for sale

I also want to get the promotion agreement signed off say we can both to gain and start rebuilding my financial futures
The potential gain isn't a lottery win but we both can get a substantial sum that I have pulled back from nothing

[PlanB]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

I am concerned that the restriction entered by her solicitor following gaining a ccj on ex for unpaid bill can be enforced by an order for sale

I think I may have misunderstood the position.

Are you saying the restriction on the jointly owned property was as a result of a creditor getting a CCJ against your ex-wife for a debt in her sole name? That would be a whole different kettle of fish.

I doubt the creditor could get an Order for Sale under those circumstances. How much is the debt?

[ohitsonlyme]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

Thanks plan b

There are 2ccj my ex gained, with restrictions, in my ex name only

1a solicitors bill for £23,000 this is what she is threatening with.
2 hmrc£35000
There is approx £200k joint equity before planning gain and upto £1million post planning

The planning gain is still pie in the sky

But the planning agents I found are going to spend upto £100000 in their belief that it will be approved so they must have high confidence

my solicitors bill was £2,000,my hmrc bill is reducing monthly on an arrangement to pay

She is in a desperate place and I am pretty sure she will see sense at some point and I really do want to help her even if I have to apply to the courts (can I apply for her to sign the promotion agreement?)

If necessary I will make arrangements with her solicitors and her hmrc to hold onto the place,
The planning window is wide open now and will close for upto 10years in a few months time

Onlyme

[PlanB]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

There are 2ccj my ex gained, with restrictions, in my ex name only.

a solicitors bill for £23,000 this is what she is threatening with.

. . . She is in a desperate place and I am pretty sure she will see sense at some point and I really do want to help her even if I have to apply to the courts (can I apply for her to sign the promotion agreement?)

Thanks for the extra information. There are several things going on here which although interlinked need to be treated separately.

Firstly it sounds as if the solicitors want an Order for Sale to get their hands on their obscene £23k bill. I'm assuming these costs were all in relation to the divorce proceedings which were concluded without any court order for money stuff. If that's the case then there is no court order for you to pay you ex-wife's legal costs from your share of the equity in the property when it's sold, that money will come from her share since it's her debt alone.

Your ex-wife's £23k for divorce costs contrasts significantly with your £2k costs which means you either (a) had a cheap solicitor or (b) did a lot of the work yourself.

There's always the possibility that her solicitor has overcharged her massively (they milked the situation while she was vulnerable) and there is a remedy for that. All legal costs can be assessed by the court and this may be something she can look into in order to get that bill reduced. The court will scrutinize every penny charged and adjust the bill accordingly. Solicitors can send a whopping bill but you don't have to pay it all if it's not reasonably incurred.

Your ex-wife can use the Legal Services Ombudsman to complain about the way her divorce was handled by her solicitor and they will consider her bill as part of that investigation. A lot depends on the timing as you say you separated six years ago but not how long ago you were divorced and your ex-wife would have been presented with the final bill. The LOS has a time limit which includes nothing which went wrong before the LOS was set up.

Although you may think your ex-wife is being awkward it's actually her solicitors who are threatening you not her. They are piling on the pressure to get their grubby hands on the money.

You are feeling under pressure because you want to get the planning deal done and dusted for which you need her co-operation. This is not a time to fall out because she is holding all the cards at the moment. You need to play nicely to get what you want.

[ohitsonlyme]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

I am playing very nicely ex is being vindictive towards me and my wife.

We both hold the same cards but I am less worried than she if i have to wait

My costs were low as I did most of the proceedingI myself and only used a solicitor when i had to

Unfortunately I cant help her to challenge her costs as she wont believe that I am trying to help her

She is being difficult because she thinks I have been living the high life on her money when the truth is just the opposite, I have had to start again and am working hands on as a builder,i havent missed a day and am beginning to build up a very good reputation via the my Builder website

Ex had close on £100,000 to buy a hair salon and ran it into the ground within 12 months to such a degree that I had to go and manage it and sold it for £30000 (which ex recieved) She thinks that I had money to start other businesses and wont accept that I did no money down property deals

I am not feeling pressure I have a good life with a lovely wife and 4 years ago at the age of 55 had my first child now a beautiful bright 4 year old who dotes on her daddy,after nearly 30 years of parenting other peoples children foster children, step children, none of my own til now

We dont have a lot of extra money compared to what i used to have and I am fighting the DCAs on a regular basis with help from this site, but we are better of than lots of folk.

I am one of 8 kids so not having much doesnt stress me out,I want to help ex and myself get closure

ex is being greedy or not accepting the truth around the recession, she believes that I am being greedy,and she wants £200,000 more than me and will not split everything 505/50 I will not give in to her demands and she wont give in to mine

STALEMATE!!
with a chance we could both walk with little or nothing


ex was on income support when i met her I had a substantial amount of equity in property and grew this whilst together(only 6 years) so for every year of being together even at 50/50 ex will get iro £100,000 for each year and never worked other than mum to her 3 children and house wife, I do not hold this against, her we married so she should get 50% thats how things roll

She is desperate for money now she does have a rare disease and the only income is from me £400/m and rent free house, I really am not prepared to give in even though she is in a bad place

I will attempt to talk to her solicitors to understand their position. I dont believe they can enforce further but need to be prepared if they do want to push it.


I now have to be patient and wait.

The conversations by email get more and more frought and now ex says she wont sign despite her needs she threatens going bankrupt or that her solicitors are going for an order for sale

I can wait I would prefer not to. I am 60 next year and want to spend my time with my wife and daughter as comfortably as I can

I suppose I am sharing with people that I trust on this site and value previous advice given on unenforceability etc

sometimes another point of view that is unbiased cant high light flaws in my approach.

[PlanB]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

What a lovely story so far. I'm thrilled to learn that you've finally got a child of your own and to know that you've been a foster parent says a lot about your good nature.

There's lots to debate, but I must say quickly that the only reason I mentioned your ex-wife's possible challenge to her solicitor's hellish legal costs is because any investigation of them may help to prevent an Order for Sale if the firm decides to go down that route. It would be a curved ball to play for time. Who cares if she's right or wrong about the charges.

[ohitsonlyme]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

I can see the sense in challenging the fees unfortunately ex wouldn't

The threat is one of her main cards, I am fairly confident that she will want to get something rather than nothing so I need patience and the knowledge to be able to fight off any potential outside threat

Could i apply to the courts to get the promo agreement signed?

I fostered 7 children in total 3 siblings for 15 years with emergency care for others along the way
By the time I am 70 which isn't too far away I will have had children under the age of 15 living with me for 47 years!

I have had a fabulous life and look and feel many many years younger than I am so I plan to be around for a long long time

[PlanB]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

I can see the sense in challenging the fees unfortunately ex wouldn't

Never mind your ex-wife. If there is a court application for an Order for Sale on a property which you co-own you'll be able to raise your own reasons for opposing it which may include questioning those solicitors' costs.

[ohitsonlyme]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

Never mind your ex-wife. If there is a court application for an Order for Sale on a property which you co-own you'll be able to raise your own reasons for opposing it which may include questioning those solicitors' costs.

I like your style plan b and understand where you are coming from :-)

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

she threatens going bankrupt

I rather doubt that she would be able to afford the fees.

[ohitsonlyme]

Re: Restrictions ex wife and planning gain

I rather doubt that she would be able to afford the fees.

I agree clever clogs I think the threat comes from getting hmrc or solicitors to do it for her
I know that she won't as she wants the 500k that is on the table!

I am working on understanding how to buy her beneficial interest with a jv or finance partner if the worst happened