Re:How long do I contribute to the mortgage?

Hi There,

I got my divorce in August last year. Part of the financial agreement was that the marital home was to be sold, and said how the profits were to be divided etc.

One bit was that I pay a £200 contribution towards the mortgage until its sold, which makes sense.

My only worry is that its been six months now and shows no signs of being sold - my ex is quite happy there (Its a five bedroom house with just her and my son there except when he's with me) and as I'm paying towards the mortgage has no real incentive to sell.

She's also been seeing a new guy for most of the last 6 months who spends a lot of time there.

Anyway - I'm not that fussed about the new guy, he seems nice enough, or the division of profits etc (Just wanted to put as much detail as may be asked for in in advance!). My question is just - is there any time in the future at which i should go back to court to see if I can reduce my payments? I dont have enough money coming in to meet my outgoings at the moment, so paying £200 less when the house is sold would be fantastic, i'm just a bit worried that could be years away now!

The view in court was that as we both wanted the house sold, this was not a long term thing, but the order doesnt state any timescales.

your views would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Chris

This occurs quite frequently. Where there is no impetus on the resident party to move, they don't make much effort to sell as it is inconvenient.

Ideally the order would give an indication of options available if a certain time elapsed and the order was not implemented.

Did you discuss the timescale for sale of the house before the agreement was reached? E.g. was it implied in the settlement that you sought to sell the property within a few months?

In any event it would surely be implied that it is not fair for you to make these payments for ever more.

Does that order have a direction for "liberty to apply"? If so, you can make an application to the court for further directions in relation to the sale of the house i.e reduce the sale price, accept any offer over a predetermined amount etc. If you are able to discuss this with your ex then all the better as you may be able to resolve the matter without referring it back to the court.

Charles