Divorce & bankrupty

eminem12011976

What comes first Divorce or bankruptcy?

Separated after 16 yrs..I'm divorcing her. Solicitor has written to me suggesting a financial agreement is not possible because I'm insolvent.

I have equity of £10-15k in property in my sole name, I live there with kids half the week. propert value 95-100k, she rents now.
Me £80k pension , her £120k pension
both insolvent not declared yet however (me £42k, her 28k)
no other assets

I want to retain property as I assume I will struggle to find elsewhere to live and have kids after declaring bankrupt ??

I want to buy out beneficial interest if i can raise funds

Was gonna ask her to walk away from property if I didn't claim on her pension

Help...just wanna try to keep house, have kids half the week and survive..somehow

tiggerbodhi

Depends how brutal you want to be, you could:


Stop paying the mortgage to build up bankruptcy fees and a deposit for renting, move out and rent then declare bankrupt, considering your pension pot is smaller would seem daft of her to try to claim some of yours.


IMHO the more separate you can make yourself the better in the long run for your personal and financial sanity.

KeepOnKnitting

Do you need to declare yourself bankrupt?

Is there any chance you could agree a nil settlement, that you both just agree that there are no assets worth dividing?

philnicandevan

One thing to bear in mind if your not insolvent and you decided on bankruptcy as an option the court could refuse you

Speak to one of the free debt advice charitys they can advise you on the next steps to take...stepchange CAB national debtline etc

National_Debtline

eminem12011976 wrote: »

I have equity of £10-15k in property in my sole name, I live there with kids half the week. propert value 95-100k, she rents now.

I want to retain property as I assume I will struggle to find elsewhere to live and have kids after declaring bankrupt ??

I want to buy out beneficial interest if i can raise funds

Was gonna ask her to walk away from property if I didn't claim on her pension

Hi there,


You need to be very careful when considering bankruptcy if there is a property involved. Your OP is a little confusing I am afraid. If your (soon to be) ex is not named on the property then what is she walking away from? If she has contributed to the property over the years then her Beneficial Interest is determined by the Official Receiver and the property may be at risk unless a third party (not you) is able to successfully purchase her beneficial interest from the OR. And if the property is in joint names then the equity is split 50/50 (unless there is any other legal document that may contradict that?) and the OR will be interested in both halves of the equity if you are both going bankrupt.


But if the property is in your sole name then unfortunately, you cannot buy your own interest back from the OR. Only a third party can do this. When you go bankrupt all of your assets vest to the OR, so if you had a lump sum to buy the interest in the property it would be seized by the OR before you can use it. You can choose to let a third party try and buy your interest back from the OR (at the OR's discretion) but, just remember, that person will then have an interest in your property too. This is very complicated, and I think full, free advice is the best thing to do, before going bankrupt.


Laura
@natdebtline