Help trapped in a house my ex won’t sign to sell

Brand new to the forum as I’m at my wits end this is my last resort.

I’ve contacted several solicitors to try and give advice and have yet to hear back , so hopefully or unfortunately (for that poor person) someone has a similar experience

I was in a financially and emotionally abusive relationship with my ex for several years . He spent like there was no tomorrow and helped to rack up just shy of £50k of debts in cards and loans in my name (due to his poor credit ) . I stupidly married this person and added him to a mortgage and deeds to my house after being coerced into doing so . He has never paid a penny to the house and I’m aware this makes no difference he still gets half . I wish I had more sense but clearly the law is in favour of financial abusers

At point of divorce he refused to sign both the divorce papers or the financial consent order I had a solicitor draft. The courts ordered the divorce after no reply from him however the financial consent remained unsigned.

I am now remarried (wasn’t aware of a remarriage trap now am ) and want to take my ex off the house . Which is in joint tenancy, eg 50/50 . I have had to take out an IVA to repay the debts , have worked hard the last year to secure a promotion at work to pay the mortgage , bills and for his children . I also had to go to CSA and get a deductible order from his earnings as he refused child maintenance for over a year . He still owes over £2k in unpaid maintenance but is at present paying half the amount due to avoid court action and also left his paid employment to set up cash in hand so it can’t be deducted.

Anyway the whole point to my post is I’m at the point he can have whatever money he wants in order to be free of him forever, he is using the non transfer of deeds which I paid for solicitors for both of us to do and he refused as usual to sign . I just want out I’ll sell up and give him half and start afresh but he would refuse to sign , he doesn’t even want half at this point he just wants to know I can’t do anything and he has full control. What are my options ?? Has anyone ever had this situation can I take him to court the remarriage trap says I can’t ? As I said I’ve contacted several solicitors I’ve already been told by one they won’t take on my case so assume I’m trapped until one of us passes away

The remarriage trap you refer to means that a person cannot make an application to a court to resolving the financial issues arising from a previous marriage if that person has remarried before making the application. However, most divorce petitions which are drafted by a solicitor make the financial claims on the divorce petition. Therefore the claims are not lost upon remarriage because they were first made on the divorce petition. Therefore if you were the one who issued the divorce petition whether you have lost the right to make an application to the court depends upon what the original divorce petition contained.

Assuming that for some reason the financial claims were not made on the divorce petition and you have remarried before making a court application in respect of the previous marriage you and your ex are still joint owners of the house. One joint owner can usually still make an application to sell the jointly owned property. The only difference is that application is not made within the context of a divorce. It is then purely a property issue. It is also fair to say that if it has to be dealt with as a pure property issue it is likely to be more expensive because of the court and procedure involved. Nevertheless it can be done.

It is also quite likely that if you made a purely property application your ex husband, assuming he is still able to make an application in respect of the marriage, would then make that application in respect of the marriage. Your property application would then probably be put on hold until the issue was resolved within the context of divorce proceedings. One way or another you can force closure although it is likely to be more messy and costly if you have actually lost your right to raise the issue within a divorce context.

Thank you so much , it’s a small bit of hope at this point I don’t care what it costs I just want freedom from his control . I’m happy to start afresh with not a penny if I have to