Facing possible homelessness

<br><br>Post edited by: janek, at: 2007/05/17 20:25

We're very sorry you're havibng such a tough time. But be assured that things will work out in the end.

Its good that you have a legal aid solicitor - but be aware that you will have to pay their costs back out of the assets you get from the sale of the house - so its still a good idea to keep a good control on their costs. Ask them for an estimate of costs to date if you havent already and set them a limit that they should not go over without discussing with you.

I think the most practical immediate step for you is to consider applying to the court for interim spousal maintenance, this should be dealt with quickly by the courts and they will decide if he should pay you SM each month now whilst the rest of the ancillary process carries on - which could be a while.

Another tactical step would be to contact the credit card company and explain the big change in your circumstances and get them to freeze the interest on your cards. The Citizens Advice Beaureau should be able to help you achieve this.

Then looking at the possible outcome of the ancillary relief, because you earn less and have the child to care for then you would normally expect to get the greater share of the house (perhaps 60 or 70 percent).

The fact that his parents put the deposit down on the house may mean he has a claim to keep that protion if the marriage was very short (1 or 2 years), but if the marriage was 4 or 5 years or longer then everything is jointly owned and based on needs you will likely get the larger share.

<br><br>Post edited by: janek, at: 2007/05/17 20:42

Well my friend be strong. I've been living in a hostel for homeless women for the last 2 years. While money from the proceedings of the sale of the house are held in the solicitors client account.
I am on legal aid, and so far i changed solicitors 3 times due to inordinated delays, unnecessary costs, forms not filed (took them 19 months to apply for ancillary relief)unanswered calls and lies and more lies. Solicitors elaborate a lot to get as much as they can from the LSC. Be careful of the wolves.
By now i decided to self represent myself.
Oh yeah, i have sued my last solicitor through the law society, and got £1000,00 compensation for having a year of my life wasted since the solicitor forgot to initiate ancillary relief proceedings. As you can see to the law each month of my life is worth less than £100.
Litigation is a nasty business but dealing with solicitors may be even worse.
However, there is a change of law effective from the 01/07/2007 that will regulate solicitors in a more efficient way(let's hope) and give some more power to the law society, since they have very little.
Check out the Solicitors Regulation Board website on
www.sra.org.uk

The exact page of the SRA with the new regulations is:
www.sra.org.uk/code-of-conduct.page