KATIE MORLEY INVESTIGATES

CONSUMER CHAMPION OF THE YEAR If a company has let you down, Katie is here to fight your corner

LETTER OF THE WEEK My ex-husband wants me out of our £850,000 home

In 2017, after 25 years of marriage, I told my husband I wanted a divorce. I had been unhappy for years because of his behaviour towards me. Staying with him was making me feel like a muted version of myself. In the end it became intolerable.

At first he refused to move out of our £850,000 home. Finally he went, but he started to become even more unreasonable and difficult. In September 2017 he misrepresented activity on our joint account, accusing me of frivolously spending vast sums of money. The truth is that I used that account mainly to pay for our three children’s upkeep. One of them had gone to ballet school in London, which was very costly. I had a separate account to pay for things for myself.

But Lloyds appeared to take his side, accepting his instruction to block me from accessing the joint account, from which our mortgage was paid. In October 2017 I received a letter saying the direct debit from the joint account for our monthly mortgage payment had been cancelled. This came as a terrible shock, as neither my husband nor Lloyds had warned me about it.

My husband refused to pay anything more towards the mortgage. At the time I didn’t have a proper income of my own. Previously I had been a full-time working mother, but when we relocated for my husband’s work I resigned from my job. Working as a team, we prioritised his career over mine so he could increase his earnings and I could focus on the children. This has left me stuck, as he withdrew his financial support. My husband refused to discuss a financial settlement or attend divorce arbitration sessions. Instead he began financial litigation through the district court. I felt virtually powerless in this process.

In November 2017 he applied to the court to make me accept an offer on the house for £776,000. This was far less than it was worth and would have rendered me and our children homeless. I appealed the decision and, in an extraordinary series of events, my case was escalated to a High Court judge, who overturned the decision of the district judge. This allowed us to stay at the family home.

However, it was an extremely stressful and anxious time. It was also profoundly depressing that, after 25 years of marriage, my husband would stoop to such a level. He showed absolutely no regard for the feelings of our children, who were facing having to sell their beloved ponies and leave the only home they had ever known.

The divorce has now gone through and I am now the sole legal owner

Write to Katie Morley, Telegraph Money, The Daily Telegraph, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT

Please do not send original documents. Include an address, phone number and separate notes addressed to all organisations authorising them to talk to Katie. For full terms see p7 or visit telegraph.co.uk/go/ consumerchampion. You can also email kminvestigates@ telegraph.co.uk of the family home, but I must do everything I can to remove my exhusband from the mortgage and hence the title deeds. The problem I am now facing is that Lloyds will not transfer the remaining £300,000 mortgage into my sole name. This means I must put my house on the market to sell within three months.

AS, VIA EMAIL

You say your husband was a wellliked man and only displayed the unkind behaviour you have described while in private. Because these toxic relations were compartmentalised, no one would have guessed what you were putting up with behind closed doors. That said, every break-up story has two sides and I have not heard your ex-husband’s.

Though he may not have shown it, I can imagine his ego took a blow when you said you wanted a divorce. And, given that he had for many years been the family’s breadwinner, I wonder how he felt when he was asked to leave the large home he had worked so hard to provide. Devastated, I’d have thought. But I’m afraid this is just the harsh reality of divorce.

By refusing to cooperate with divorce negotiations, it seems your husband inflicted additional suffering on you and your teenage children. I’m sorry you had to endure this. In an apparent act of spite your husband went about splitting your assets in the most aggressive way possible: through the courts. He wanted you out of the house, but his attempt was blocked by a High Court judge.

It was through your grit and determination that your highly complex case was brought before a senior judge who ruled in your favour. Thank goodness you didn’t just roll over. If you had, you and your children would now be living in rental accommodation and the ponies would have been long gone. Your teenagers needed a stable environment to concentrate on their studies, so this outcome

My neighbours, whose house shares our drainage system, have been flushing baby wipes down the lavatory. Every few weeks our drain blocks up. This has meant innumerable calls to our water supplier, Severn Trent, including two in the past week.

It has been professional, patient and courteous, and its teams always arrive within 24 hours. I am never charged a penny, and staff are helpful and friendly. I cannot praise Severn Trent enough.

Neighbours’ baby wipes keep blocking my drain

PB, SHROPSHIRE

Severn Trent has certainly come up smelling of roses, but I’m not so sure about your neighbours. They are creating an environmental hazard, which is affecting your life and taking up Severn Trent’s resources. This cannot go on. If a tactful word doesn’t do the trick, it might be time to involve environmental health and your local council. Good luck with it.