HM Land Registry - Accept TR1 signed by a Foreign Court

My husband and I recently got divorced.  He was the Petitioner and filed in Florida, and thus agreed to be bound by the Florida Court's decisions.  

The Final Judgment was issued early March, I paid the settlement payment per the judgment, after which he had 30 days to file a TR1 and transfer his interest in an investment property in Central London over to me.   He has been living in England since the date of filing for divorce nearly 2 years ago.

He has refused to sign and submit the TR1, now claiming the Florida Court has no jurisdiction or authority over him (though, he happily took the settlement payment!), and there is a Contempt hearing set for 13/6 to hold him in Civil Contempt.   One of the available remedies here in Florida is to have his attorney sign on his behalf, or the Judge can also sign, and or issue a new, specific order demanding he sign, lest the civil contempt be converted to criminal contempt.

So, the question is:   Would HM Land Registry accept a TR1 signed either by my ex-husband's attorney, or the Judge in the case??

John - If a court order has been made that directs a transfer to be made but the registered proprietor will not execute the deed, the judge or another officer of the court may execute the deed on behalf of one of the parties to the proceedings. Solicitors, but not counsel, are officers of the court.
You refer to an attorney, and I assume you mean that is your ex-husband's legal representative, hence your Q.
In light of the Florida element I would recommend you seek legal advice with a legal rep familiar with the legal requirements in both Florida and England & Wales as it maybe prudent to ask the judge to sign
If another order is issued instead then that requires the parties to do as ordered rather than enable a judge to sign the transfer 

Hi Adam,

I have asked local counsel here in Florida, and whilst a party's counsel or the judge could sign a transfer instrument if the party subject to the judgment refuses to do so.   He just didn't know if HM Land Registry would accept a TR1 signed by a Judge in another country.

Similarly, I have a London based solicitor, and she basically said the same thing - she just didn't know if the TR1 would be accepted or not.

So, are you saying that if the Florida Judge signs the TR1 in lieu of my ex-husband (the Petitioner) per the original Final Judgment, that it would be accepted as an authorised signatory by HM Land Registry??   That would save a WHOLE lot of hassle and future legal fees on my part!

Please advise,

John

Hi John - that's interesting as what's acceptable in law, and in court, is something for the respective legal advisers to cover for you, not HMLR.
From a purely registration perspective, which comes after the legal considerations re what's acceptable, we can accept a transfer signed by a judge providing the supporting evidence stacks up legally. But we only consider the legal and registration aspects once an application has been lodged at which point one of our lawyers would then consider the supporting evidence 
In an effort to try and help your legal reps and base don my experience re such matters from a registration perspective the types of things relevant to such legal considerations would be 
Was the divorce/settlement effective under the law of the country in which the order(s) were obtained. And was either party habitually resident in Florida or a resident in America or an American citizen for example as that confirms that they were subject to the court proceedings. As you will appreciate the answers to such Qs will help with regards the legal considerations needed to support the judge being able to sign and for the transfer to then take legal effect. 
So in answer to your actual Q is that we can accept a judge as an authorised signatory of the transfer but we do need to see supporting evidence that meets the legal requirements to do so. And my response hopefully offers you and your legal reps a steer as to the type of legal Qs that need to be considered and answered by that supporting evidence

Hi Adam,

Thank you very much.   This is extremely useful information.   I am a US and British citizen, and ex-husband British and Irish citizen, and US Green Card holder.   We were both living in Florida from Nov. 2020 and residents.  He left in May 2022 and went back to London.   He filed as Petitioner in Florida in June 2022 - so jurisdiction is not an issue.  In fact, the 1st paragraph of the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage deals directly with this point.

The Contempt hearing is a week from tomorrow.   I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again for all the guidance.   It is much appreciated!

Kindest regards,

John

HI John - thanks for sharing and all noted and appreciated. Glad I could offer some assistance but must stress this is a legal issue so our hands are largely tied as to what advice we can offer.
Hopefully the slight steer will enable you to secure the legal position and get an executed/signed TR1 that you can rely upon to then apply to update the register 

Hi Adam,

Well, the Contempt hearing was postponed due to flooding here in south Florida mid-June, but finally took place last Friday.

There is a new judge assigned to the case, and he is truly new.   Elevated to the bench from private practice by Gov. DeSantis in mid-May, and even though I informed him of the information derived from this forum exchange between us - he claimed that as much as he would like to sign, he just didn't know if he could, so declined.

At this point, I am aware of several options available to put various restrictions on the property, which would require trustees to disperse any funds from a sale - but that hurts me nearly as much, as I'm in need of the funds - so would save that as a last ditched effort.

As the original Judgment is signed by the original presiding judge, could I simply include that with the TR1 document, along with any other supporting material from the case/trial??

Additionally, I now know that he has also left the UK - now evading two jurisdictions.   But, leaving me holding the bag.

I look forward to reading your response.

John

Hi John - that's disappointing to read but the vagaries of law can always surprise.
Impossible to say if the original judgement would be sufficient although I would add that in my experience we need an executed Transfer (TR1) so my immediate reaction is no, you need a judge to make the decision and execute it. 
And including the fact that the judge asked to do so did not know if he could, so didn't probably won't help matters.
You can apply to update the register base don what you have - we can't be definitive as to what's acceptable in such cases without having an actual application