Consent Order

I am taking my husband to court for non compliance of our Consent Order (non payment of maintenance)....however he said today that the consent order is void because I didn''t adhere to the order first because I didn''t sign over the joint FH to him as agreed in the order....apparently I suppose to do this after 30 day???? My solicitor wouldn''t let me sign anything until until he started paying maintenance....but he did pay me maintenance for the first 5 months then stopped...however this does in theory mean I didn''t adhere to it first therefore the consent order has been broken and therefore everything we agreed is now void...I don''t want to go to court and find out that Im wrong and he can now just pay me what he likes. He didn''t go to court to get variaton on the maintenance ...he just stopped paying me and now paying me a little as he says he cant afford anymore...Please help x

The order is not void at all, it''s a court order you and he cannot set it aside only a judge can, the judge will enforce the order if you both are not complying then the judge will deal with both of you in turn.

Thank you so much. I appreicate your quick reply x

Yes, it''s not void at all. But really can you blame him? He has been following it for 5 months and you have not kept up your end of the bargain. You both still need to stick to it, but rather than taking it to court, why don''t you just both agree to stick to it?

You seem to be at a stalemate of "you first" "no you first". You broke the agreement first so would it not make sense for you to break the stalemate by signing over the house as agreed? Then if he does not re-start the maintenance (with arrears), apply to court for enforcement. You will get all the arrears and your costs paid for.

I completely agree. You cant have it all your way. 5 months quite a long time, why did you procrastinate?

It''s a lonnnnng story.....but my solicitor adviced me not to sign it....I can''t remember why now as my new solicitor has my paperwork...he paid for 5 months but hasn''t paid for the last 2 years...he has a £100000 job, nice car and half a million pound house...he is suppose to pay me 2000 per month for me and the children but inisist he hasn''t got a job (everyone laughs about this) and can be proven that he does...he''s just a very bitter man who couldn''t stand that a women stood up to him and left HIM rather than him leaving a women.....the children and I barely live but thinks this is OK cos he''s so bitter...believe me I would willingly sign over the house to him if he paid me and the childen every month...I so want to move on, but as my solictor says...this is all we have to bargin with....we can go to court and the judge will here both sides and hopefully will see that me and the children have been more than patient whilst he flaunts his lifestyle in front of us...I just want to be able to put food on the table, pay the mortgage and bills and have a bit of money left over to go to cinema once in a while....he''s a very controlling man..but I''ve had enough and now it''s time to stand firm yikes.

You don''t need to "bargain". You have it in black and white and stamped by the court. If he does not pay you the maintenance then you can apply to court for enforcement and make a costs claim for doing so. This has nothing to do with you signing the house over. However if you make a court claim for enforcement, I would expect him to (quite rightly) say, "I stooped paying because XXX has not stuck to the agreement to sign over the house". I expect this would significantly reduce the validity of your costs claim.

So if I were you, I would sign the house over, and tell him to pay the arrears in maintenance and recommence payments. If he fails to do so, apply to court.

If your solicitor does not agree with this then you have not given us all of the information, or else your solicitor is a numpty!!!