Default on a mortgage after separation.

Wodders

I've joined these forums in the hope that it might help a friend of mine. She separated from her husband and he left the family home about a year ago, but he continued to pay the mortgage and bills to support his 3 children. It has now come to light that he stopped paying the mortgage and bills 3 months ago but said nothing to my friend. Every bill or account is in his name and he refuses to communicate or provide and info so that she could even try to take over them. The mortgage provider can not help as it is not her mortgage. Can anyone offer any advice that I can pass on so that she get tackle the problem. She works part time so does not have a massive income.

Thank you in advance.

tightauldgit

Have the divorced and/or had any kind of financial settlement or court order?

If he's just paying the mortgage and bills out of his own goodwill then he's free to stop paying at any time - the solution would lie in the first part of this answer, to go get a divorce and a financial settlement that spells out his obligations. 

Wodders

They are not divorced at present. He agreed to continue paying on separation (which was very honourable,) but decided to stop with out communicating that he was to my friend. As the mortgage and all other bills are in his name alonr she hits a brick wall when trying to speak yo the companies involved.

gizmo111

Wodders said:

They are not divorced at present. He agreed to continue paying on separation (which was very honourable,) but decided to stop with out communicating that he was to my friend. As the mortgage and all other bills are in his name alonr she hits a brick wall when trying to speak yo the companies involved.

Well all the defaults will be in his name - what is her long term plan for housing and the children.  Has she had legal advice?

silvercar

The new forebearance mortgage measures will give her 12 months in the property from when the mortgage went into arrears. So she has 9 months to sort herself out.

she should take legal advice. Possibly a good idea to register matrimonial rights on the house deeds.

Wodders

I didn't know about the forbearance measures that is some comfort. Can she do anything about the other utilities if they are all in his name. (I'm thinking he gets a final bill, then there's a new account in her name?) I think she just needs to stay afloat now so they can deal with the long term housing situation.

RAS

Does your friend work? Has she checked any benefit entitlements?

She must change the Council Tax into her sole name, and claim single person's discount. If he stops paying CT and she doesn't know, life could get unfunny. This may be possible on-line or she can ring them. 

And try to remove his name from the electoral roll.  

If all the utility bills are in his name, then the debts accrue to him not her. I'd suggest she reads the meters if nothing else.

Check the situation with the house and ensure she has contents in her own name. Building insurance may be more difficult. 

And register matrimonial rights now and sign up for Land Registry alerts.

tightauldgit

While the utility bills will be his responsibility while they are in his name, he can presumably tell them tomorrow he has moved out and there is a new occupant and that situation would change. I guess it only gets serious if and when the utility company starts talking about disconnection.

TBagpuss

She can set up new utility accounts the same as she could if she were renting. She can also make a formal application to the CMS for child support. 

The good news is that if all the accounts are in his sole name, the defaults should nor affect her credit record . However, she needs to get some legal advice as soon as possible, and, if she hasn't already, start the ball rolling to get a financial order in place - if it is not agreed then it can take 6-12 months to go through the courts and the divorce court has no power to stop a repossession, so the sooner she stars the process so she can start to look at what she may be entitled to and what she will do next, the better. 

She needs to start thinking about how she will rehouse herself, which I appreciate is jharder if she isn't clear on how much equity there is in the house, but she can improve her position by making sure that she is doing her best to maximise her income - getting a job / increasing hours etc to maximise her mortgage capacity, and starting to think about what is available that would be suitable and how much she would need from the equity a a deposit to make it possible to buy.