Mediated Settlement agreed and signed in June with both of us and our attorneys present, along with the mediator.
Terms: Stocks, cash, and deeds to be transferred to me within 15 days. (The terms I was responsible for have been completed.)
Stocks and cash transferred to me approximately 90 days late- during which time ex received over $50,000 from these investments. (As I understand, the court may award me 8% interest - approximately $6,000 - while he gets to keep the extra $44,000 difference.)
Deeds have still not been transferred.
My questions: What steps can I take to force ex to abide by this agreement? This has already been through the court system once, when the judge declared that it was a valid agreement (ex attempted to convince her that it was not). At that time, he also verbally agreed to my attorney to pay the interest and all attorney’s fees incurred by me from date of his delinquency (60 days at that point).
How many times must I take this to court ($$$!!!) to get these matters taken care of. My attorney has advised (after the judgement is actually entered - another court date) that we must “bring a civil suit against “ex” for breach of contract and ask the court to order him to specifically perform. If you prevail (and I would expect you to do so) and J
“ex” still didn’t perform, you would initiate a contempt proceeding against him and, if you proved your case (which I think there is little serious question about) then the judge could put “ex” in jail until he purged himself of contempt by signing the deeds and writing you a check.” It appears to me that the attorney is the only one making out in this deal! The actual judgment itself has not even been filed yet, as ex preferred to keep it out of public record.
My biggest concern at this moment is the deed to our marital home. It is presently for sale, and I am extremely concerned that, should I find a buyer, that my ex will refuse to sign the deed, which still has his name attached. In addition, I assume that the check would need to be written out to both of us, when the entire proceeds are legally mine. This has the potential of harming me greatly financially, but I see no easy way out.
Ex’s attorney quit just after the mediated settlement agreement, when ex stated that he had signed under false pretenses and duress. To the best of my knowledge, he has not retained another attorney.
Your thoughts and advice will be most appreciated.