Put Under Duress (by Ex & Est Agent) to sell home

When my now EXHusband announced out of the blue his wish to divorce, I reluctantly did all he asked to achieve this. I agreed to sign the estate agents contract to seek a buyer for our home (which I funded the entire capital for out of my own previous single wealth) -Deed of Trust prior to marriage drawn up and constantly being contested by him & his sols. I have offered to buy my Ex out at considerable expense and stress takking on an enormous amount of mortgage debt, at the valuation he got from an independent surveyor of his choosing for Court purposes, and at the split he agreed with his barrister at the FDR that he would settle at (60/40 to me on MH & 50/50 on 3 buy to let properties he wants release from too). He resents me being strong enough to take this action and try to stay in the home we built together (with my money) and has rejected the offer. He wants me to continue to seek a buyer on the open market. I am still living here and have kept the place immaculate for viewings for 9 months now. I have offered what he said he would accept as a buy out, and wish to keep the house I invested all my wealth into to live in with my 2 dogs. I have had enough upset and upheaval. Can I refuse to market the property any more (subject to having given the Estate Agts the 2 wks notice required) and await the Final Hearing which is set for Jan 2013? Or, as I signed the Estate Agents contract back in Feb 2012, am I stuck at having to continue with viewings etc? PLEASE HELP xxx

Only a judge can order sale and that only happens after a final hearing, so yes if you want to hold off you can, unless the judge at FDR said differently.

Wow! Thank you - that is great news. Are you deffo sure about that? As when I asked my solicitor (and Barrister) they both said I should continue cooperatively marketing it, as it will look bad on me at the Final Hearing otherwise.....?

The answer is yes you can hold off on sale, is it wise well thats another matter, what did the judge have to say at FDR, did s/he recommend sale of FMH?.

Put simply the only person who has the power to order sale is a judge usually a district judge, this can only happen after a final hearing, up to this point its only recommendations.

If both your barrister and solicitor are saying cooperate with the sale it would be daft to ignore them, your paying lots of money for the advice after all.

I know nothing of the circumstances and even if i did i would still recommend you listen to your legal team, it maybe they are worried about a costs order if you pull out, i don`t know.

I can`t comment on the contract you signed with the estate agent, i know nothing of civil law, i would have thought though in order to sell they would need to consent of both owners, maybe one of the solicitors will spot this and clarify.

Thank you - the Dep Judge at the FDR came down on his side significantly regards my Deed of Trust (if enforced would suggest a 70/30 split on the MH to me) as that Deputy Judge said if it were a Final Hearing he would suggest a 60/40 split. I had made various offers Pre FDR and at the FDR I made a further offer which was slightly short of the 60/40 split. The Dep Judge at FDR asked why we had not reached a settlement asking how far off my offer was from being acceptable to him - his Barrister told the Dep Judge it was about £20K short and I asked why don''t we split the difference then? - The Dep Judge thought that was a good ideas to avoid the massive extra costs of a FH and he told us to go away and strike that split difference deal. His barrister said - put it in writing - which we did and he has still rejected the offer which equates to a 60/40 split on the MH and a 50/50 split on the 3 buy to lets (I also financed out of my capital invested under the Deed of Trust in the MH). We were only married 6 yrs and 4mths and had no children. When I met him he lived in a bedsit and had debts, which I paid off. I owned a few properties which I sold to invest in the MH - I put everything in and put it into joint names (trusting fool that I was!)

Sounds very odd to me, why such a high settlement after a short and childless marriage?, is he disabled perhaps?, did he make a significant contribution during the six years?.