Divorce and debt

krazydiamond

I am currently going through a divorce. My ex husband has told me that he wants no claim on the marital home. I am currently living there and he is in rented accommodation. The problem is his debts. 16 years ago he got heavily into debt and the CCCS advised that he set up payment arrangements with the creditors of which some are still ongoing. These are not IVA's but payment agreements which I understand are not legally binding. There are also 2 charging orders against the house in his name. My solicitor has told me that even if he transfers his share of the house to me and he goes bankrupt in 2-5 years as as a result of the property transaction to me then they can claim through the court to take the money off what would have been his share.
Even if he didn't go bankrupt could the same thing happen if he defaulted on any of his current payment arrangements? He may not intend to default on them but if he gets into financial difficulty later on then it may be a nice option for him to get rid of them from his share of the house.
Is there nothing legal that I can get into place that can stop the creditors claiming money once he has transferred the property to me? If I buy him out can creditors still claim from me later on if he defaults on the payments or goes bankrupt?
I need to 100% protect myself from any of his future financial comeback as I don't want to spend the next 5 years looking over my shoulder. And how do the charging orders fit into all this?
Any advice greatly appreciated.

HappyMJ

You can buy his share of the house for the amount outstanding on the charging orders and the solicitor will use that to clear them off. Your solicitor will work all that out when the property is transferred into your name.

Once the property is in your name any further enforcement action taken against him will not affect what will now be your house. They'll have to try something else to get payment.

krazydiamond

Thanks HappyMJ but clarification needed. Why would I only buy him out with the amount of the charging orders when that value is less than half of his share or have I misunderstood?
So you are saying as long as I buy him out then I would have no comeback from his creditors?

Clive_Woody

krazydiamond wrote: »

Thanks HappyMJ but clarification needed. Why would I only buy him out with the amount of the charging orders when that value is less than half of his share or have I misunderstood?
So you are saying as long as I buy him out then I would have no comeback from his creditors?

I think what he/she was saying is that you would buy him out by getting your solicitor to pay the outstanding debts on the house so removing any charges against the property and that this would be documented as you buying your husband out of his share of the property.

You can't just give the money to your husband in the hope he will use it to clear the debts. The creditors will not agree to have the charges removed unless they are repaid, what is agreed between you and your husband is irrelevant to them. He can't sign over his share of the property and expect the creditors to just accept this with them losing the security of having the debt tied to the house.

If his share is more than the debts then the remainder could be paid to him as cash once the charges against the house are removed (plus any fees for doing this paid from his share).

Think you need a solicitor to sort this out and document it all so there is no comeback.

krazydiamond

Clive_Woody wrote: »

I think what he/she was saying is that you would buy him out by getting your solicitor to pay the outstanding debts on the house so removing any charges against the property and that this would be documented as you buying your husband out of his share of the property.

You can't just give the money to your husband in the hope he will use it to clear the debts. The creditors will not agree to have the charges removed unless they are repaid, what is agreed between you and your husband is irrelevant to them. He can't sign over his share of the property and expect the creditors to just accept this with them losing the security of having the debt tied to the house.

If his share is more than the debts then the remainder could be paid to him as cash once the charges against the house are removed (plus any fees for doing this paid from his share).

Think you need a solicitor to sort this out and document it all so there is no comeback.

Just to be clear here. The paperwork I have states that these are B136(CO) notices of applications to register a restriction against the land. Are these the same as charging orders?