Courts

Woman asks court to help get files to sell house before ex-husband is released from jail

High Court hears solicitor firm that previously acted for couple is refusing to give her deeds to the property

Mr Justice Mark Sanfey granted the woman permission to have the matter listed before the courts later this month. Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey granted the woman permission to have the matter listed before the courts later this month. Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Aodhan O'Faolain
Fri Jul 12 2024 - 16:33

A woman who was assaulted by her former spouse claims she cannot sell her family home because a solicitor firm that previously acted for them is refusing to give her the deeds to the property.

The woman claims her former lawyers have no right or entitlement to retain the documents.

The High Court also heard her husband is currently serving a prison sentence for committing violent acts against her, including assaulting and threatening to kill her. He is due to be released next year.

To comply with court orders made in their divorce proceedings, she must sell their family home, which is worth an estimated €1.5 million. Now represented by another solicitor, she claims she has been asking her former solicitor firm for more than a year to provide her with various legal documents, including the deeds of the property

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The court heard the solicitor firm claimed in a recent email that it is owed €10,000 for a sale of the property that did not proceed. The woman denies she owes any money to the company.

Her High Court case against the firm seeks an order directing it to furnish her with the original title deeds of the property and a file arising out of a contract of retainer entered into between the parties.

Represented by Gabriel Gavigan SC and David Geoghegan BL, the woman asked the court to permit her application, which was due to go before the courts in October, to be brought forward to a date in July.

The court heard the respondent solicitor’s firm acted for her ex-husband during their divorce proceedings. The same firm later represented her in another matter.

The woman now accepts the firm’s representation of her in this matter was clearly inappropriate given it acted for her ex-husband during their divorce proceedings. She said she was instructed by one solicitor in the firm, while her husband had been represented by a different solicitor in that firm.

She claims her former solicitor has no rightful authority to retain the documents she needs, and the failure to hand them over to her current solicitor is preventing the sale of the property.

She says that she wants to sell the property so she can fully comply with the orders made in respect of her divorce proceedings and because she does not want to have any further dealings with her ex-husband when he is released from prison.

The matter came before Mr Justice Mark Sanfey who, on an ex parte basis, granted the woman permission to have the matter listed before the courts later this month.