Ex Wife Bankrupt

Cogsy_neil

HI, just after some advice here really. Back in 2019 my Ex-wife went bankrupt and I made an agreement to purchase her share of the equity this was accepted by the bankruptcy trustees and I made the final payment in 2020 and the charge was removed.

The issue I have now is that my ex wife is still on the deeds to the house even though I purchased her share of the equity. NatWest wont let me take her off the mortgage as I had to go into a DMP with Stepchange to enable me to leave her and I couldnt afford the mortgage on my own and my credit commitments.

I really want to know how I stand from a legal point of view I could go to an adverse lender to get a new mortgage but the rate would be higher and as she isnt putting pressure on me to get her off the mortgage I dont see the point. However I am just worried if she went bankrupt again or owed people money would the fact she is on the deeds still mean she has an asset even though I technically own her share now.

Still cant believe NatWest wont let me take her off as Ive been paying the mortgage for last 2 years on my own but apparently they treat any new application (evebn a transfer of equity) as a new application.

ANy help greatly appreciated.

Ph0enix83

When you bought the equity, was there any legal documentation to say that she no longer had any claim on the house? If not, and the value of the house has increased, potentially she/creditors could say that she owns half of the equity gained since then. From the sounds of it, they could argue you just bought her equity at that point, not her entire claim on the property. 

Ph0enix83

Also, have you actually had a quote for the mortgage on your own? Rates are ridiculously low right now so you might be pleasantly surprised. My husband has just remortgaged to borrow a big chunk of the equity and with the low interest rate it hasn’t made much difference to the monthly payments. And his credit rating isn’t brilliant. 

Cogsy_neil

Thank you for your reply, this did worry me tbh but I emailed the bankruptcy trustee yesterday and although he said he couldnt give me advice, he did say that as I have been paying the mortgage on my own since the bankruptcy then that would eliminate any claim from a creditor that she had gained any interest since.