Consent Order payment of agreed sum

[Geoman]

When my marriage ended I retained sole residency of the matrimonial home and residency for my daughter. The consent order contains a Mesher 'type' clause that delays a payment to buy out my ex wife's interest in the home until my daughter reaches a certain age unless certain events trigger payment. The property has been transferred in to my sole name so that I could take on the mortgage in my sole name and a restriction was registered with the land registry to ensure I could not sell the property without the conditions or the consent order being met.

I have a couple of questions about making the payment:-

1) I may buy out my wife in several lump sums over a period of time because whilst I have assets in my own name, even though the money is ring fenced, I would be penalised for having savings if I needed to claim Universal Credit. Do I need receipts from my ex wife acknowledging receipt of any payments as part payment of the money due under the consent order? What sort of evidence should I have in case my ex disputes payment in the future?

2) Do I need a solicitor to deal with the payments or is tis something that can be dealt with by me simply making the payment and obtaining a receipt.

3) Once the full amount is paid, do I need to have the restriction removed or would it be sufficient to simply retain receipt/evidence to provide a solicitor in the future if I decided to sell. Can only a solicitor remove the restriction or is it something I can do myself?

These are questions I should have asked my solicitor at the time but it didn't occur to me until now when I may want to start making some payments.

Thanks for any help
G

[Clitheroekid]

When my marriage ended I retained sole residency of the matrimonial home and residency for my daughter. The consent order contains a Mesher 'type' clause that delays a payment to buy out my ex wife's interest in the home until my daughter reaches a certain age unless certain events trigger payment. The property has been transferred in to my sole name so that I could take on the mortgage in my sole name and a restriction was registered with the land registry to ensure I could not sell the property without the conditions or the consent order being met.

I have a couple of questions about making the payment:-

1) I may buy out my wife in several lump sums over a period of time because whilst I have assets in my own name, even though the money is ring fenced, I would be penalised for having savings if I needed to claim Universal Credit. Do I need receipts from my ex wife acknowledging receipt of any payments as part payment of the money due under the consent order? What sort of evidence should I have in case my ex disputes payment in the future?

No, assuming you aren't intending to pay in cash you don't need receipts, as the payments will show on your bank statements. However, it would be sensible to agree a schedule of payments with her before you start. Also, if there's a specific date when payment becomes due (e.g. your daughter's 18th birthday) the whole of the money becomes due on that date, and your ex isn't obliged to wait for it to be paid by instalments if she doesn't want to.

2) Do I need a solicitor to deal with the payments or is this something that can be dealt with by me simply making the payment and obtaining a receipt.

As for 1.

3) Once the full amount is paid, do I need to have the restriction removed or would it be sufficient to simply retain receipt/evidence to provide a solicitor in the future if I decided to sell. Can only a solicitor remove the restriction or is it something I can do myself?

You could leave it until you sell, but there are massive delays at the Land Registry at present, so even if these have reduced by the time you sell it could still seriously delay a sale.

As with any legal process you probably could do it yourself, but it's straightforward for a solicitor, so it would be worth phoning for a quote, as it may be cheaper than you think.

[Geoman]

Many thanks for the response.

Initially my solicitor advised me to keep control of my assets as long as possible and make the payment close to the 18th birthday but if I am going to be penalised by the benefits system then it makes sense to reduce my savings and start to pay the agreed amount off.

I do see your point about removing the restriction. There is no mortgage so no lender involved and as you say, it's probably very little work for a solicitor to draft a letter with evidence of payment.

Out of interest, as evidence to remove the restriction, would I just need to provide documents showing that the full amount had been paid to my ex or would she need to acknowledge that the amount had been paid?

Thanks
G