Advice on Ex going Bankrupt

julie2710

Hi

I'm looking for a bit of advice if at all possible. I'm divorced from my ex. He left just over five years ago with no debt, a property and a business. I kept the family home and took over paying the mortgage on that property. I have two sons, 8 & 5 years old. Unfortunately I have been unable to transfer the mortgage into my sole name due to the multiples vs outstanding balance. Despite receiving just £88.57 maintenance in the last three years I have paid the mortgage etc on my own. I have never defaulted on any of my debts.

My ex has run up significant debts. Last year I went to court twice to prevent charges being put against my property.The divorce settlement was made via the court and I have a court order stating that my ex has no legal or equitable rights to the property providing I maintain the repayments and make reasonable attempts to move the mortgage into my sole name. I have applied to the bank annually to do this but the computer says no! On both occasions the court rejected the application for a charge being put against it stating that in light of the court order and my evidence, it is obviously our sons' home, that it would be both legally and morally wrong to place the charge against it for a debt which is not my responsibility.

What I need to know is if he applies for bankruptcy will the same argument stand or will my home be at risk? I have paid off nearly £70k of the mortgage since he left and there is over £100k of equity in the property.

Thanks for an advice.

debt_doctor

Hi,

The general rule is that family law takes preference over insolvency law, in that, if a judgement is made regarding property, and the court was aware of all the facts regarding the solvency of those involved, then an Official Receiver or IP will not be able to challenge it.
The claim that an OR or IP could have potentially made (prior to the court cases i'm about to mention) is that there was a transaction at undervalue - which means property 'given away' for nil or less than it's worth.
The case that cleared up the battle between family and insolvency law is Haines v Hill [2007] EWCA cIV 1284 and to a lesser extent, Ball v Jones [2008] which said that;
In the family court;
If the order has been made
and
an element of consideration (property) passes under it
and
the decree absolute has been made
and
there has been no dishonest collusion
and
the court was aware of the financial position of the partners

Then any application to overturn is likely to fail.

This still remains good law.

DD

julie2710

Thank you for that.

meer53

If your mortgage is still in joint names, it would be advisable for you to lodge a notice of disassociation (if you've not already done this) with the credit reference agencies to prevent you being linked to any further debt he might run up. At the moment, you may still be linked with him on your credit files.

julie2710

I didn't even know this was an option. How would I go about it?

meer53

Just contact the credit reference agencies, the link below explains it all. I did it when i split from my ex on my solicitors advice. Good job i did, as he now has huge debt problems !. It will only apply to future lending though, not any that is already in place.

http://www.debtadvisorycentre.co.uk/advice/what-is-a-notice-of-disassociation-0-4113-0.html

StuC75

The problem with notice of disassociation is that the current mortgage is in joint names.. Best bet is likely to be a Notice of Correction - but that is likely to result in any applications made by the OP to be referred for decisions..

meer53

StuC75 wrote: »

The problem with notice of disassociation is that the current mortgage is in joint names.. Best bet is likely to be a Notice of Correction - but that is likely to result in any applications made by the OP to be referred for decisions..

We had a joint mortgage when we split, (11 years ago) i lodged the notice of disassociation straight away and the joint mortgage was only changed to my sole name last year. I've never had any issues getting credit since the notice was lodged, i've bought 3 brand new cars and remortgaged in my sole name since then. My ex managed to get himself a ccj soon after we split and has defaulted on his credit cards and mortgage so i think it worked for me.

StuC75

That can depend upon how long ago the mortgage was taken out in respect of what CRA's show, espectially if the split was 11 years ago.. Its also probably that the ex's woes are linked to his current address,, with most searches tending to go through the last 6 years of history \ address movement.. So it may be combination of addresses and passage of time [11 years since split and the 6 years that they drop off anyway]..that's stopping your ex's history showing on yours.

In that the link that you post quotes -

"That means you can't disassociate yourself from somebody if you still share finances with them - for example, if you have a mortgage or a joint account together. "

meer53 wrote: »

We had a joint mortgage when we split, (11 years ago) i lodged the notice of disassociation straight away and the joint mortgage was only changed to my sole name last year. I've never had any issues getting credit since the notice was lodged, i've bought 3 brand new cars and remortgaged in my sole name since then. My ex managed to get himself a ccj soon after we split and has defaulted on his credit cards and mortgage so i think it worked for me.

julie2710

Ok I haven't done anything about disassociation or notice of correction. The mortgage was taken out 11 years ago and his name is still on it. I'm trying with the bank again today to try and get them to transfer it to my name but I'm not holding my breath. They have also now said that they won't let me take on the whole mortgage at the current rate, only 50% of it! :eek: They have never said this in the past and to be honest I'm not really inclined to go down that route as I'm currently paying a lifetime tracker of 0.34% over base. If I switch to half at that rate and half at their lowest rate I'm looking at an extra 3% minimum on half the balance of £173k. To keep it in line to finish at the same time that would mean an extra £130 per month! I know it doesn't sound much but I'm trying to get myself out of debt not put up my monthly payments by that much for the next 14 years!! :mad:

All the debt he has and the court orders which went against him were with debts that were accrued after our separation. One of the court orders was his divorce solicitors as he hadn't paid their fees! :mad:

I'm thinking that right now as long as I don't stand to lose my house and no one can put any charges against it I'm better off staying as I am, clearing my debts as soon as I can then try and head for mortgage free as soon as I can. Ok a way off I know but better than paying my greedy bank who haven't really been that helpful an extra £21,840 in interest over the next 14 years for no real benefit , unless anyone else can see a good reason why the money might be well spent?