Walking away from mortgage and debts

wmsheep

Hi all

Wonder if anyone out there can help a friend of mine.

My friend and her husband have been together for 10 years, and married for 1. They are currently in the process of getting divorced.

He has moved out of the marital home, and in with his new woman, and has stopped contributing to the joint mortgage, leaving my friend to pay the £600 a month mortgage, and all the bills (about the same again).

What my friend wants to know is this – can her husband just walk away from the mortgage and other joint debts and refuse to pay?

I have offered a loan to pay for re-negotiating fees for the mortgage to get it down to a reasonable amount every month, but my friend has refused saying that I would be implicated by her husband in the marriage breakdown (as if I`m not already).

Ta

WMS

Savvy_Spender_South

sticky sticky area.

Straight to solicitor, get some legal advice down on paper. this happens more an more as one half try to walk from their responsibilities. Ultimately it may end up in a sale with an asset / debt split where required.

sad to hear after just 1 year the marriage is splitting, all that wasted money on the wedding!

wmsheep

Yup, I agree, it IS a sticky area.

I think that the one thing I can suggest to my friend is to let the mortgage co. know her ex`s current address, so that he can be included in all necessary discussions about things.

Ems!

I have a friend in a similar situation and went to the solicitor with her. The solicitor said that, whilst they are still married, her husband should still be jointly liable for the mortgage ( but I don't think for the bills). Of course, actually getting him to pay it would be another matter and the solicitors fees involved may make it not worth it, but it could be worth the initial free 30 minutes you get (we were there almost an hour!), and maybe look into solicitor writing him a letter??

Sorry to hear your friend is in this situation - I know from experience from my friend how awful it is for them and I feel pretty helpless even though I am trying to be helpful on the practical side!

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Let's make it clear - the departed party (in these cases the husbands) are still liable for the mortgage whether married or not - the lender will have a 'joint and several claim' on both parties i.e they are both fully responsible for the total payments and the total debt. I would agree that they are not 'responsible' for the bills.

The weakness in this argument is that if the abandoned wife fails to pay the mortgage in full (even if she pays 'her half') BOTH credit ratings will be trashed.

The husband needs to be made clearly aware of this (but may simply not care) and the solicitors letter (and advice) route is one I would recommend as vital ASAP.

Frankly, unless some form of constructive negotiation can be established, sale and division is the best route (and should be taken as soon as possible to protect the credit rating).

getmore4less

Do not lend money to someone in a situation like this.

You can gift, but a loan is at risk of never geting repaid.

papaver

This happened to some friends, and when they eventually went to Court to settle things, the share of the partner who was not paying their half of the mortgage was taken out of their final settlement, for how however long that no payment period went on for.

Even if you remortgage and buy out the others half, make sure their non payment for the period in question is noted.

If there is no equity in the house, then not sure how you chase them and get payment from them.

They must get a solicitor and notify the building society in question.

Lesley

OhYeah

My situation is very similar. My husband deserted me and children some 5 years ago and left me to pay mortgage and secured loan. I am divorced from him now and my solicitor is applying to the courts to get the property transferred solely into my name and I will take on the whole mortgage. The loan my solicitor is to ask the court to divide it 50/50. I know I could get more as I have been paying it for so long but to be honest I simply want him completely out the frame.
Over the years I have paid the mortgage and loan by internet banking and so have an audit trail that all payments have come from me. This evidence will be presented to the court.