Title deeds. Ex will not sign house over

laylag

Hi all.
Asking for some opinions on the best course of action on behalf of my mum. After a long and messy divorce with my dad the family home was awarded to her as part of the divorce settlement. This was almost 2 years ago.
She has no income other than Social welfare and the mortgage is in arrears so the house has been on the market for the past 2 years. It's not in great repair so it's taken ages to get an offer. She now has an offer and it's gone sale agreed and she is hoping to pay off the arrears and have enough left to buy somewhere herself. Today she got a call saying that my father has not signed over the title deeds despite being written to a number of times.
Has anyone been through something similar or can anyone suggest the best action to take as we are afraid the sale will fall through. Her estate agent has said it might have to be brought to the county registrar to get it changed but not sure how long it will take. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Paulw

Best advice - she needs to talk to her solicitor and get him/her to deal with the issue.

Tony_TwoLegs

laylag wrote: »

Hi all.
Asking for some opinions on the best course of action on behalf of my mum. After a long and messy divorce with my dad the family home was awarded to her as part of the divorce settlement. This was almost 2 years ago.
She has no income other than Social welfare and the mortgage is in arrears so the house has been on the market for the past 2 years. It's not in great repair so it's taken ages to get an offer. She now has an offer and it's gone sale agreed and she is hoping to pay off the arrears and have enough left to buy somewhere herself. Today she got a call saying that my father has not signed over the title deeds despite being written to a number of times.
Has anyone been through something similar or can anyone suggest the best action to take as we are afraid the sale will fall through. Her estate agent has said it might have to be brought to the county registrar to get it changed but not sure how long it will take. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

The Family Home Protection Act requires both spouses to sign but if one is withholding then the court will intervene (I forget the sub section).

As a court order is in place he can be held in contempt.
Is he appealing the ruling, ie why his delay?
If not, his signature is incidental and the sale can proceed regardless.

FishOnABike

It might be worth calling in to the nearest Free Legal Advice Centre clinic (https://www.flac.ie/help/centres/) with copies if whatever court orders were made during the divorce.

It is possible that the divorce orders made provision for the county registrar to sign financial documents if your mother's ex refused. Some legal advice from a FLAC or any private solicitor would help clarify her options and give her some idea how long it might take.

laylag

Tony_TwoLegs wrote:

As a court order is in place he can be held in contempt. Is he appealing the ruling, ie why his delay? If not, his signature is incidental and the sale can proceed regardless.

Thanks everyone.
No he's not appealing. He has just blanked every correspondence on the whole divorce to the point that the guards had to remove him from the house and bring him into the court in order to complete the divorce. My mum ended up losing all her savings on solicitors bills as he never showed up for any court dates for years.

I'll let my mum know the advice mentioned here. Thanks so much everyone.

Hopefully the sale doesn't fall through.

Wesser

They should not have put the house up for sale and allowed bidding to happen when they did not have the title deeds. It is not fair on the bidders. Now they are going to break some young first time buyers heart and put them through sleepless nights. Also by the time you decide that you cannot actually sell the house, house prices are going up 2k a month so the buyers will have lost out on all that time ( ie money)

Cyrus

Wesser wrote: »

They should not have put the house up for sale and allowed bidding to happen when they did not have the title deeds. It is not fair on the bidders. Now they are going to break some young first time buyers heart and put them through sleepless nights. Also by the time you decide that you cannot actually sell the house, house prices are going up 2k a month so the buyers will have lost out on all that time ( ie money)

In fairness I would feel more sorry for the ops mum than a jilted ftb if indeed it comes to that

Wesser

I feel sorry for the mother too sounds like a nightmare but two wrongs don't make a right. Waiting until tne title deeds were in your hand is much better form, especially as house prices are rising so probably would get even more in 1 or 2 months time.

laylag

Wesser wrote:

I feel sorry for the mother too sounds like a nightmare but two wrongs don't make a right. Waiting until tne title deeds were in your hand is much better form, especially as house prices are rising so probably would get even more in 1 or 2 months time.

Thanks. I agree and my mum was told by her solicitor that it would be sorted 2 years ago. She also told her estate agent this initially. In fairness she should have followed up but she didn't.
The house is in arrears since my dad stopped paying the mortgage years ago and my mum has no income. As soon as the house was awarded to her in court she had to put it on the market as the lender was and is threatening repossession.