Oh Brother! I need to help him....

19lottie82

LannieDuck wrote: »

i) Stop paying the £1000 to SIL, work out what he'd have to pay through CSA, and just pay that.
ii) Say that he'll pay 1/2 the debt if she can give him paperwork proving the amount (and that it was jointly accrued). He needs to know the total amounts that he owes. At the moment he has no way of knowing whether she's racking up more debt that she's going to get him to pay.
iii) Get in contact with a debt management organisation and get the interest on the debts frozen. Arrange payment plans. Does he even know whether his repayments are making a dent in the amount of debt?

Honestly, with a 13yo child there's no reason the mother needs to be a full-time carer. She has plenty of opportunity for a small part-time job during school hours. Or your brother could take 13yo child at weekends (and reduce his CSA payments by 2/7th) and SIL could get a weekend job.

Exactly. My main feelings here is that your brother will need to grow a pair here, especially with point 1. Your SIL won' t like it but tough luck.

Due to the other kids age, he is only responsible for the 13 year old, which quates 15% of his income as maintenance.

dancingfairy

Why is he paying 65 a week towards his debts? It doesn't sound like he knows fully what he owes and to whom yet. IF he needs to sort out his debts he should be paying what he can afford in a fair way through a debt charity.
He needs to get hold of his credit report from all 3 agencies (different companies report to different agencies).
He then needs to remember that he is liable for all of the joint debts. In an ideal world they should pay half each, however the bank/mortgage compan can go after either party for the entire amount. Therefore if his wife decides she is not going to pay towards the mortgage there is not much he can do about it (and paying his 'half' therefore may not have the desired effect). IF he wants to pay 'half' or a share of the mortgage he needs to understand what could happen if she doesn't play ball and he may want to pay the money directly off any debts and not just hand it over to his ex.
If he's not paying over 1000 a month to his ex thehe could afford legal advice. Maybe he should drop the amount he is paying right down and get the legal advice! It could save him thousands!
Best of Luck
df