Thank you Kevin for the quick reply.
That’s set her mind at rest that she can do whatever she wants with her portion of the sale.
Sorry, we’re assuming (which is wrong) that they’ve just been told because we knew nothing about the trustees solicitor until late yesterday when the ex said it was stated the monies would go to the trustees solicitor
Thanks for your help.
td46

Hi, sorry another question following my last post please. It transpires that the ex did not inform the trustee straight away about the sale of the property. My niece agreed to go with an estate agent & conveyancing solicitor (a package) of the ex's choosing as she was stalling over other options. It now turns out the trustee wants their own conveyancing solicitors to take over. There will be a penalty of £400 to pay because this breaks the agreement with the original conveyancers. The trustees solicitors say they will not pay this.
(1) Can the trustee demand they handle my niece's share of the house profit or can she stay with who they have at present and (2) will they make my niece liable for this penalty?? This is getting so frustrating, she just wants a straight forward seraration and only wants her share in the property.
TD46

Hi td46.

I assume that the sale hasn't yet happened in that case?

The trustee will want to control the sale so I'm not especially surprised that they want to appoint the solicitors. Your niece could object, but that might result in there being no sale.

Maybe she could submit a request that the penalty be taken of the ex's share of the equity? It seems like you could put together a good argument for this to be the case?

Thank you for this. The sale is going through at present & there is a move in date but obviously this is holding things up. My niece is scared that if they deal with her share they either hold onto her share or delay giving it to her. Do we need the to ask trustee solicitors to put something in writing agreeing my niece gets her half share??

They have already stated that they will not pay the estate agent the extra fee saying they can try putting a claim in. My niece is tempted to pay the blooming thing just to speed things up!! So frustrating...
td46

Good Afternoon

The Trustee's solicitor will only be acting in relation to the Trustee's interest. I.e your niece's ex partner's share. Due to the nature of insolvency it is often the case that Insolvency Practitioners will utilise a small number of specialist conveyancing solicitors with particular expertise in the area.

Your niece has every right to her own independent legal advice though, so there should be no problem with her continuing to use the solicitors in question. At that stage however, it becomes a question of whether the terms and conditions are still breached and/or which option may end up being most cost effective for her.

The Trustee or their legal agent will not hold on to your niece's share. They would have no authority to do so. The change in solicitor should make no difference to the distribution of funds.

Again Kevin thank you very much for the advice it's much appreciated. I will pass this on to her.
Nothing is ever straight forward when you'd like it to be.