Estranged husband going bankrupt

kit

Hiya

I have posted a thread here and have been advised that the people on this board may be able to help me with some answers!

Can I ask you to have a read and see if you can advise me?

Thanks :xmassmile

Somerset

Don't sign or do anything till you speak to your solicitor. Sounds like it's blackmail anyway - do what I say or else. The threat of bankrupcy may not be genuine. If he does go for bankrupcy any property transaction like this could be overturned by the OR plus you are not even getting the money immediately. If bankrupt you will just be another creditor.
Get legal avice asap.

micheleen

Legal advice is essential IMHO

Me_Myself_2

I agree with the others - GET LEGAL ADVICE. You own half the equity in the house if it is in joint names, so if he was to go bankrupt the could only take is share. I.e. sell the house and keep his share or get yout to buy him out. GET LEAGAL ADVICE.

rchddap1

If you own half the house then any bankruptcy proceedings that your husband goes through won't affect it. You won't lose everything if the house is in joint names, or if it is in solely your name. A bankruptcy will affect 'his' assets and debts, not yours. So the threat sounds like an empty threat to get you to sign things over quickly.

Besides, what happens if he goes bankrupt before he gives you the money? There will be no guarantee that you will see it, as you will simply be added to the list of people to whom he owes money. Whether you will be at the top of that list.....is the million dollar question, to which I suspect you already have a decent idea of the answer.

Don't sign anything before you get some legal advice from your solicitor....no matter what the 'threats' are.

kit

My solicitors office say that the house will be repossed, sold at auction and depending on how much it sells for and how much they keep in fees... I may get a little cash but not much and there is no promise that I will get anything. Also as we are still offically married, I will be linked to the bankrupcy.

I really dont know what to do - my solicitors office are saying I have to sign over the house or risk losing everything and I have to do it today.

What if it goes wrong - do my solicitors have to take responsibilty of my losing my money upon their advice??? I have worked with my actual solicitor for 2 years now so trust her but she still on holiday

Somerset

The house can only be repossessed if the mortgage is in arrears and/or secured loans are in arrears. It takes time. You've posted nothing about the finances of the situation. Is there a mortgage ? is it up to date ? does your husband have other debts ? why does he think bankrupcy a good idea ? You are not 'linked' to your husband's bankrupcy - it is all his. But you don't say if you have joint savings, loans, credit cards etc. His bankrupcy would affect you then creditors would go after the other half of the 'joint'.
Tbh it sounds complicated. There is a load of unknown information to be factored in. I don't understand why 'your' solicitors have told you to sign, but not fully explained why that is their advice. I don't mean the repo thing - just the 'you have to do this' thing. I know if I employed them I'd be saying WHY ??
Last thought - if your husband buys you out ( which is what I think you said ) and takes over the mortgage and joint credit card you mentioned, where's the money coming from and if he has this money ( plus ongoing mortgage/credit card payments ) why is he even talking about possible bankrupcy ???
I don't get it - your solicitors must have all (both) your financial info, so why can't they explain what's going on.

Xbigman

You need to post a lot more information to get a totally reliable answer.
One point, can you afford the mortgage on your own? If you can you could make an offer to buy your husbands equity from the OR (if he goes bankrupt).
You could also put the house up for sale yourself once he is bankrupt rather than have it repossessed. There are options in every scenario.
As for solicitors, are they experts on bankruptcy or in some other field? Solicitors often give advice based on the law not reality.

From what you have said so far I would not sign the house over.
Regards



X

kit

Hi guys, thanks for your advice so far.

I have held off signing anything till Monday to try and get my head round what to do.

Ok, here is some more info:

The property is owned and mortgaged in joint names. He missed November's payment but paid December's. He has yet to make an arrangment to pay back the missed payment. Up to November no payments have ever been missed or even delayed.

My solicitor never managed to get any financial details from him despite asking for them. The last I heard (about 2 months ago) he was claiming JSA.

The only depts I know he's got are:

Credit card - when I left this was around £4000 (bear in mind this was 2 years ago)
Overdraft - on the joint account, its currently about £1100. My name is about to be removed from this account and it is currently frozen so he cant use it
Mortgage - joint names, is just over £52000
Car finance - about £4000 outstanding - i have heard rumours that he has sold the car that this relates to.

He cancelled most direct debits for bills etc about 4 months ago so would presume he owes money to all utility companies and council tax.

Thats all the info I know. He is no longer instructing the solicitor he has used all the way through this matter. He has changed to a new one in a town about 30 miles away and this solicitor only deals in property so can not handle the marital side of things and he has no background knowledge in this matter.

My solicitors are advising me to sign the property over to him because they say that if I dont there is a very high chance I will end up with nothing. I have offered to buy him out but my solicitors say that its too late to do that. They say that as soon as he is bankrupt the morgage company will reposses, sell at auction for a minimal amount and its likely I will end up with very little as they will just aim to cover their costs.

I am just so confused. I dont want to end up with nothing, I have solicitors fees to pay!! My solicitors are telling me one thing but my head is SCREAMING dont do it....... help?!

Ps - please let me know if you need any more info and I will see what i can do.

forgot to say..... the husband is remortgaging to buy me out. As soon as the money is paid to me, he is going to go bankrupt (as far as I am aware).

Tim_L

Sounds very peculiar to me. If he is on the point of bankruptcy he will be unable to get a mortgage, and certainly won't be able to if on JSA. No lender in their right mind would make a loan, and applying for a mortgage when on the point of bankruptcy without declaring it would be fraudulent and he would be risking criminal action.

On the other hand if he has the money in place to buy you out then he can't be bankrupted in the next few days, wherever this has come from, because he has a lump of cash. There could also be some problems for you anyway if he took this route, because it would appear to the OR like an attempt to dispose of cash to a family member (albeit estranged) prior to a bankruptcy and he might very well pursue you for it. It is just possible that your ex thinks he is doing you a favour here, but if he is set on bankruptcy you may be up the creek anyway and it may be better to cut your losses.

You're not actually a creditor, so all you are entitled after the bankruptcy is half of the equity on the house minus expenses of the sale, and it is quite possible that this could be nothing at all. I don't see why it should be too late to buy him out if there's only one defaulted payment, and probably if he were bankrupted you would be offered the opportunity to do this: it's quite normal for a spouse to purchase a bankrupt's half of a house and often this is possible at a discount on market value because of the forced nature of the sale.

It sounds like someone is playing games here. Why not put these points to your solicitor's firm and ask them to explain their advice.

kit

Thanks!

I am going to make a list of all the points you all bring up over the weekend and take them in to my solicitor on Monday. I dont have an appointment but I'm just going to sit there until they see me and explain their advice!

Keep your advice, and details on what I should ask, coming. I really do appreciate your help here...... you are confirming what I thought - this is DODGY!!