1930s bus timetable is worth more than court order

This is a slightly different aspic of approach than many of the other comments I have read. Basically, I met my husband 2 years ago, at that time he was living in the FMH looking after his two children, his wife having left in 2003. He stayed paid for everything and supported his children then 15 and 17 approx. We decided that I would move in in 2007 and when the time came to sell the house, we would combine the money from my house sale, sell his house and we would buy one together. If only..... To cut a really long story short ... She left him in 2003. It was not until 2006 that the matter went to court to conclude a settlement.
In the settlement it was decided that the house would be transferred into his name after 60 days with a charge on the property that she would receive 45% of the sale profits. My husband would then receive 55% (as he had paid all the bills and everything for the children) and be reimbursed from the profits 55% of the mortgage payments he had made (only from 2006 thought, not 2003!!!) The trigger points being death, co-habitation, remarriage, July 2008 or sale of the property. She became bitter and twisted when she realised that he was moving on with his life, turned the children of the marriage against their dad, who had done everything for them. Made life awful for us.
At one point she entered the property while we were not there and went through my personal items (THIS IS BECAUSE SHE DID NOT MAKE ATTEMPTS TO TRANSFER THE PROPERTY INTO MY HUSBAND'S NAME EVEN THOUGH MY HUSBAND HAD MADE ATTEMPTS TO GET THIS DONE) ordered by the courts. She could therefore enter the property. Every time we went away, something went missing from the house. An endowment was due for maturity in 2007, she held on to the forms for three months. This consequently made the mortgage £400 more than it should every month. It took a battle to get that done, and even made claims that my husband fraudulently tried to pay it into his bank account.!!!!
When my husband asked his solicitor about the Court order, 'why is it not being carried out,what can we do about making her comply' we were told that the court after making their agreement they have no means of enforcing it unless it goes back to them in court. My husband had complied with all his obligations She also took some very personal items of his, which had been instructed in the court order to be handed back. Well our solicitor has been asking for five years for this to happen so we went to the police yesterday to see if they could help us as his solicitor is powerless to do anything. All it is is letter and letter, wait another 14 days or lets wait another week, this now has run into 18months. My husband has to sell the house, but until then has to pay the mortgage every month, as stated in that court order. She refused to put the on the market at first, then she wanted a lump sum, haggled the price, really it would send even the healthiest person into an extreme coma to go into the things that she has stalled , lied about, even her solicitor was making false claims, which we just could not understand as there is no documentation anywhere to support these claims especially not in the court order.We found this quite wierd.
He has spent £25,000 so far on solicitors costs and he is absolutey no further on really, from the day she left. Anyway this is a message to you all really, solicitors dont appear to have much clout with enforcing the court order once it is made. And this is made with both parties interests in mind initially, but if one party decides not comply it has to be submitted back to court.
It really does give you much confidence in this process.
We have now waited five months for her to sign the endowment which matured in February 2008,and have to pay the full installment for the mortgage each month until this is applied. What can be done,...NOTHING. We have been waiting three weeks for my husband to be able to even speak with his solicitor and this morning we
received another bill for £2,000.
He has offered to buy her out, she refused. She is aware that because there is not a charge on the property that she cannot demand her money, she will just have to wait for the sale, as none of the trigger points apply. Unfortunately I dont think she fully understands this. We can only assume that the court order has not been fully explained to her.
Personally it is such a sad and tragic time going through divorce, it would be helpful though if the courts could really make sure that compliance of the court order is enforced. I have read quite a few stories and our's is not disimilar, does not give you much confidence in our legal system. Five years down the line she is still ruining her ex-husband's life. She is with the man she ran off with and had a baby, living in a home provided for by her mother presumably rent free. So the moral of the story, if you have a court order, just make sure that it is followed up and complied with immediately, dont leave it until you have absolutely no hope whatsoever. Must admit I have read on this site that it makes you feel better to 'get it out'. I just feel so sorry for everyone suffering, and the majority of the suffering is caused by our legal system not being able to make sure that everyone complies with what they should. Has anyone else had to go back to court? and if so did they manage to get the conditions in the court order complied with? As it might be that that is our only hope now.

Hi Jellyfish

I'm sorry about the position you find yourself in but whilst he legal system has a lot to answer for, I think most of us are suffering because of the people we were unfortunate enough to marry.
Whilst the legal system does not seem to work in our favour, those who have split amicably and are able to resolve the issues themselves fair best.

Those of us who are bitter and resentful (me) Those that are money grabbing (him) those who are mean and spitefully ( your husbands ex ) and those who were married to any of the aforementioned, seem to come out the worst. Don't think we can blame it all on the legal system but we all hate to see them benefit from our misery.

Just my thoughts
Megan

Hi Megan
Thanks for your reply. I think it is how some people play the legal system too.
When I went for my divorce, back in 1999, I went to two firms of solicitors to ask them to act for me. When they realised that we had worked out our own settlement and just wanted it finalised and stamped by the court, and that I was not going to fight him for his pension and the shirt off his back, they both refused to act for me. I even signed a disclaimer for one of them saying that if anything went wrong with my 'life' they would not be responsible. In the end I had to find a solicitor 200 miles away, who completed my requests by fax quickly and cheaply. I felt that I had a huge lump sum, all the savings, contents of the house, and he had paid for over a year for me to stay in the house all bills paid. i just wanted to get on with my life. And now I realise that was the best decision. I know most are not amicable but I think our legal system could be sharpened up a bit. I would definitely not have come out of it with as much money as I did. I think the main problem is that Court orders are made, and perhaps one party obides by it. It takes other visits to court to get the other to comply. Just wastes so much money. We all have reasons for being bitter and resentful, I have those moments many times.
Many thanks for your comments.