divorce and debts

Desperate_Dave_2

Hi I hope someone can help me and answer my question.

I've been separated for over 2years and have been asked by my wife's solicitors to sign a consent to divorce proceedings. There are no assets involved only debts! As they are all in my name does this mean that I have responsibility for them or should she take some of the burden as they were all from when we where together?
To make matters worse she is in no financial position to repay anything at this time, and neither am I.

Some of the debts maybe over 6years old and maybe barred or unenforceable but I can't find any information about what this means or how I can tell if they are or not!

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
D

boredofbeingathome

Hi Desperate Dave, the first thing you probably need to do is get a credit report. Have a look at the free trial one for experian. This will give you an upto date account of debts and addresses where to write to. It is an opportunity to correct any mistakes on the report and also see who you are linked to financially, so your ex will be on there with any joint debts you may have.
You can then look and see how old these debts are. I would advise using the templates on here to claim back charges owed etc.
With regards to the statute barred limitation i am sure that is for debts you have not acknowledged for over 6 years. There are templates on here for those as well.
Unenforceable debts are a best left to those who know about them, so i am sure when you know who and what you owe, then someone can advise on these.
You would probably benefit from advice from a non debt fee advice centre like cccs or the CAB.They will give impartial advice on the best way forward for you, likewise for your ex wife.

epsilondraconis

An alternative to signing up to the free trial is to order it by sending a £2 cheque / postal order. This is the same for Equifax and the other main credit agency. The link for teh Experian £2 order is below:

http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/

boredofbeingathome

Sorry should have mentioned you can get one completely free here

https://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk



Experian etc can be done online and you can see instantly the annualcredit report will be sent to you in the post. I did one and it took 5 days, which i felt was pretty quick.

Desperate_Dave_2

Thanks for the advice.
I have done the credit report, it shows only 2 debts (there are a lot more!) but it shows the original creditor and none of the debt collectors that have chased me over the years. They are both in my name, as are all the rest I'm sure (as my wife was unable to get credit or have a bank account due to bad debt in a previous life)

Does this mean that I have responsibility for the debts and will getting divorced make any difference?

Why aren't the other debts showing up? They are old loans and overdrafts.

It also shows a judgement against me??? What is that all about?

Any more help and advise will be very gratefully received.

Many thanks
Desperate Dave

RAS

Hi

There are three credit record companies, so your debts may show up on another company record.

others may be statute barred and will not show up as debts fall off the record after 6 years.

The judgement is a County court judgement, presumably sent to your old address and not challenged.

Debt_Free_Chick

The debts are technically yours, but some of the liability could be "transferred" to your ex as part of the divorce agreement. They cannot physically be transferred, she would need to give you cash for any share transferred to her or - if there are other assets - deduct her share of the debts from her share of the assets.

But if she has no means to repay you any money, then there's little point in pursuing this option. It would only work if you had other assets e.g. equity from a property to split up.

Desperate_Dave_2

ok thanks.
Which are the three companies that I can get a credit report from?

Can I find out who the debt has been passed on to? ie debt collectors!

Capquest have been trying to get money out of me but I have heard a lot of bad things about them!

RAS

Experian, Equifax and callcredit although CC only cover about 5% of the market.

Re crapquest, one of our less favourite DCAs, but if they have their mitts on something, there is a good chance that it is either statute barred, about to be or unenforceable because the documentation is non-existant or dodgy.