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Bankruptcy and house ownership

I have a few options going through my mind at the moment, bankruptcy being one of them. I have a joint mortgage with my my wife and plenty of equity in the house.
I have a lot of credit card debt, all in my name, nothing in my wife's name, so a couple of questions.

1. If I went bankrupt, would they take the house, bearing in mind its joint owned, and the credit card debt is all in my name?

2. Is it possible to sign my half of the house over to my wife, before I went bankrupt, so they couldnt touch it?

I realise that all my debts are supposedly unsecured, but have also heard that companies are now putting on charging orders and going for forced sales.

Many thanks

Comments

  • Richard_S
    Richard_S Posts: 4,432 Forumite
    ChrisWP wrote: »
    I have a few options going through my mind at the moment, bankruptcy being one of them. I have a joint mortgage with my my wife and plenty of equity in the house.
    I have a lot of credit card debt, all in my name, nothing in my wife's name, so a couple of questions.

    1. If I went bankrupt, would they take the house, bearing in mind its joint owned, and the credit card debt is all in my name?They wouldn't take the house immediately, but the O.R would expect to realise your share of the equity in the house as part of your estate in bankruptcy.

    2. Is it possible to sign my half of the house over to my wife, before I went bankrupt, so they couldnt touch it?All property transactions are documented, and if you signed over the house when you were insolvent, the O.R would overturn the transaction immediately.

    I realise that all my debts are supposedly unsecured, but have also heard that companies are now putting on charging orders and going for forced sales.

    Many thanks

    Hi Chris,

    You will be given plenty of time to realise your half of the equity, but there's no getting away from it; if there's equity in the house the O.R will expect your half.

    There's loads of Threads on here about Beneficial Interest. Do a search and you'll come up with as much information as you need.

    Regards

    Richard
  • Thanks Richard, I'll do the search for that.
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