Matrimonial home rights removal

Hi I''m in a awful position where I''ve been living in the same house as my stbx for nearly 18 months. She registered home rights to protect her but has then choose zero communication, in the mean time I have paid 100% of household costs, Mortgage, utilities etc (I purchased the house nearly 10 years before we met).

We have tried mediation but after I declared everything, got house valued 3 times etc , mediation has stopped because she keeps saying she has not got together the requested information bank statements, benefits she would be entitled and so on.

To be honest I''m at my wits end, we have a 7 year old boy in the middle of this who has to sleep in either one of his parents bed every night. My wife has ignored various financial offers from me and given me no way out of this situation and is just content on remaining how things are.

Degree Nisi is set for March 4th. I know there is zero chance my stbx will apply for Absolute so it will mean I will have to wait another 4.5 months like this! But if I do apply for absolute what are the chances of it be accepted? Obviously once absolute is granted I believe I could apply to the land registry to have her rights removed.

Anyone?

I can''t advise how to get things moving if your STBX is not playing ball, apart from taking her to Court. If she is getting legal advice it is quite likely that she will be told not to apply for the Absolute until financials have been sorted.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along soon!

Thank you for your response. I could understand that she would not apply until the finances are sorted but we can''t get sorted because she simply won''t communicate and seems to prefer to remain living how things are than to finish things. She filed for divorce but took 4 months to send a form to the court for degree Nisi despite endless reminders for me and the mediator.

I feel I''m living in limbo now for 18 months, I can''t meet anyone as I don''t want to explain why I''m living with my stbx wife. I can''t book any holidays or make plans as I don''t know what money I will need available if this was to proceed to court. Just seems because she has home rights she is happy to remain living in the house while I''m left to pay everything.

If she is refusing to communicate, and mediation has failed, then why not apply to court? It will concentrate her mind and she will not be able to ignore the court''s Directions.

You will need to contact your mediator to sign the form which states that mediation has failed. Then file form A, with the appropriate fee.

The whole process will take about a year if it goes to final hearing, but she may well settle earlier. In any case, once it''s started you know there is an end in sight.

Thank you Luna Shadow

I actually tried closing down mediation back in October due to my stbx not attending a miam for 10 weeks of requests due to her saying she didn''t have the money (funny how the day I contacted the mediator to obtain Form A my stbx suddenly agreed to attend and came up with the money). Now I look back it all just seems like delaying tactics and games to her.

If I file Form A can I still apply for degree Absolute when the time comes? which will likely be July 2016. As I''m looking to end her matrimonial home rights as I can''t live with her for another 12 to 18 months with me payments by all the bills ( it''s already been 18 months! So could end up being 3 years)

It does sound like games/delaying tactics, but at least you know that''s the game she is playing so you can be aware of it if she tries again.

You can apply for the Decree Absolute when the time comes, but as she is the Petitioner she can apply to have it refused due to the finances not being sorted. Anyone advising her would advise her to do this as she would not have any protection against you evicting her (much as I totally understand you perhaps wishing to do this!)

If you are living totally separate lives, i.e. cooking and laundry etc, then your wife would be entitled to at least child tax credits on her own behalf, and probably JSA as well. She should then be in a position to pay her half of the utilities as well as pay for her own food etc. You would also need to pay CSA - not sure if you could offset this against her ''half'' of the mortgage? I am assuming here that she does not work at the moment. It may help concentrate her mind that this cosy little situation she has now will have to change.

I don''t think, realistically, if she doesn''t want to leave that you can avoid having to live with her for the next 12 or so months. I can understand that you don''t want to leave your house, although you have to be aware that it is possible she will be awarded the house (perhaps subject to a mesher order) as you have a child together, if there are no other suitable arrangements for housing your son.