Divorce/ Mortgage payment issues

Poppet86

I've been asking for help now for coming up to 2 weeks. The impact this issue is having on me and my husband has defintley changed how amicable we've become.So we jointly own our home ( he lives there) and due to ill health he's not working. He's missed one mortgage payment, and won't be working for the foreseeable future, he's no income what so ever.So naturally I'm liable if he can't pay. My wage doesn't even cover the mortgage. I've been advised to set up a payment plan and sell the house. Easier said than done. I've tried 3 days on the trott now. My husband has pleaded and has a letter from his GP about his vulnerability and our mortgage lender isn't interested. He's now gone awol. Refuses to agree to the sale and has refused to conversate with me.Does anyone have any advise on the next steps if I don't meet the criteria for the payment plan. And also how do I get help to instruct a solicitor.. I have zero funds available,most of my local solicitors dont accept legal aid. Ive just applied for my conditional order so playing the waiting game for 6 weeks... I suspect I'm going to have to appoint a solicitor to force the house sale.... I honestly can't believe the lack of support I've had... The frustrating thing is I've called citizens advise and numerous charities and they just keep advising to appoint a solicitor... I honestly can't cope with the stress of this, weve jointly agreed to the divorce up until this point so i cant believe its all turned sour now..... any help is appreciayed 👏 

Hoenir

If the mortgage isn't paid then ultimately the lender will repossess the property. A forced sale through the courts is extremely expensive , can run into many thousands.  Letting matters take their course may well be the better option. Then let your husband suffer the consequences of his self inflicted actions in the financial divorce settlement. 

AskAsk

unfortunately there is no public help when it comes to divorce with regards to financial matters.  as you don't have money, i wouldn't instruct a divorce solicitor as they are only there to fight over assets and this won't apply to you.

if your husband won't agree to the sale of the house then you can force the sale but as someone had already said it will be costly and lengthy as there is still the split of assets, which needs to be done for the house, and this needs to go through mediation and solicitors and divorce courts so it will probably not happen until the house has been repossessed.

as someone had said, you don't have a choice but let it get repossessed.

Poppet86

AskAsk said:

unfortunately there is no public help when it comes to divorce with regards to financial matters.  as you don't have money, i wouldn't instruct a divorce solicitor as they are only there to fight over assets and this won't apply to you.

if your husband won't agree to the sale of the house then you can force the sale but as someone had already said it will be costly and lengthy as there is still the split of assets, which needs to be done for the house, and this needs to go through mediation and solicitors and divorce courts so it will probably not happen until the house has been repossessed.

as someone had said, you don't have a choice but let it get repossessed.

I totally understand it's lengthy and costs money. It's just very frustrating as I'm sure you can imagine. So bottom line. Let the house go and wave by to 40k equity.... 

Mands

Poppet86 said:

It actually makes me feel sick, I don't want the house to be repossessed. As the impact it will naturally have on me too. I really can't afford a solicitor. Ive watched large quantities of money enter the joint account so naturally I only questioned why the mortgage wasn't getting paid... All his bank accounts have been frozen.  removed myself off the joint account yesterday and the bank advised they would be taking action further as the money entering has gone into a separate savings account. Let's just say it's in excess of my houses value. I honestly don't know what to do, the stress this is causing me is indescribable.... 

Your husband is unwell, can not work and has zero income. Is that correct? But money has been paid into his sole account (recently?) which is in excess of the value of the house?

Where did that money come from? Why is it not being used to pay the mortgage? Who has paid money, to the tune of tens (hundreds?) of thousands of pounds into his account. When you say he has gone awol what do you mean? 

AskAsk

Poppet86 said:

AskAsk said:

unfortunately there is no public help when it comes to divorce with regards to financial matters.  as you don't have money, i wouldn't instruct a divorce solicitor as they are only there to fight over assets and this won't apply to you.

if your husband won't agree to the sale of the house then you can force the sale but as someone had already said it will be costly and lengthy as there is still the split of assets, which needs to be done for the house, and this needs to go through mediation and solicitors and divorce courts so it will probably not happen until the house has been repossessed.

as someone had said, you don't have a choice but let it get repossessed.

I totally understand it's lengthy and costs money. It's just very frustrating as I'm sure you can imagine. So bottom line. Let the house go and wave by to 40k equity.... 

if you think that by selling the house you will have £40k profit to yourself then you may need rethink.

you will almost certainly have overvalued the house price or the EA has as they always do this.

there are legal fees and EA fees to come out of the sale so that will reduce the 40k down already.

then that has to be split between you and your husband, so that is less than 20k each.

less than 20k will be used up in no time to pay for solicitors to fight this out.  that is too small an amount to have a legal battle over and that will not be any less stressful than what you are experiencing now, if not more as you see legal fees continue to rise.

my advice is to tell your husband that the house is going to the dogs, best look for somewhere else to live pronto.

Poppet86

Mands said:

Poppet86 said:

It actually makes me feel sick, I don't want the house to be repossessed. As the impact it will naturally have on me too. I really can't afford a solicitor. Ive watched large quantities of money enter the joint account so naturally I only questioned why the mortgage wasn't getting paid... All his bank accounts have been frozen.  removed myself off the joint account yesterday and the bank advised they would be taking action further as the money entering has gone into a separate savings account. Let's just say it's in excess of my houses value. I honestly don't know what to do, the stress this is causing me is indescribable.... 

Your husband is unwell, can not work and has zero income. Is that correct? But money has been paid into his sole account (recently?) which is in excess of the value of the house?

Where did that money come from? Why is it not being used to pay the mortgage? Who has paid money, to the tune of tens (hundreds?) of thousands of pounds into his account. When you say he has gone awol what do you mean? 

Correct.He apparently isn't working ( was self employed for 15 years) and told me he had no income or savings now.... but obviously our joint account we held for the mortgage and bills said otherwise. The bank are now investigating him for money laundering...  Ive spoken to the mortgage lender again today and they have just advised me of another solution, which wasn't even given or explained to me (switching to a interested only account) regardless, it's not an option for me, so I've gone through the motions of setting up a payment plan only to be told, they will try and contact him and if they failed to speak to him or he disagrees with the plan, they will proceed to issue a court order to obtain the house.... I wouldn't be surprised if he tried changing the locks so I can't access the property.

RAS

Pragmatic only.

You need to work with both the bank and mortgage provider. If your ex has been engaged in money laundering, you need to prevent markers against your name or you could find future banking much more of a problem than just repossession.

It appears that you have now instructed that all further transactions on the joint account require both signatures? 

Get everything out of the house that you need, value.

Please speak to one of the charities that advises on economic abuse, preferably Surviving Economic Abuse, although this may be at the upper end of their expertise. They may be advise on providers who will support ex-partners whose spouse has a complex financial situation.

AskAsk

Poppet86 said:

Mands said:

Poppet86 said:

It actually makes me feel sick, I don't want the house to be repossessed. As the impact it will naturally have on me too. I really can't afford a solicitor. Ive watched large quantities of money enter the joint account so naturally I only questioned why the mortgage wasn't getting paid... All his bank accounts have been frozen.  removed myself off the joint account yesterday and the bank advised they would be taking action further as the money entering has gone into a separate savings account. Let's just say it's in excess of my houses value. I honestly don't know what to do, the stress this is causing me is indescribable.... 

Your husband is unwell, can not work and has zero income. Is that correct? But money has been paid into his sole account (recently?) which is in excess of the value of the house?

Where did that money come from? Why is it not being used to pay the mortgage? Who has paid money, to the tune of tens (hundreds?) of thousands of pounds into his account. When you say he has gone awol what do you mean? 

Correct.He apparently isn't working ( was self employed for 15 years) and told me he had no income or savings now.... but obviously our joint account we held for the mortgage and bills said otherwise. The bank are now investigating him for money laundering...  Ive spoken to the mortgage lender again today and they have just advised me of another solution, which wasn't even given or explained to me (switching to a interested only account) regardless, it's not an option for me, so I've gone through the motions of setting up a payment plan only to be told, they will try and contact him and if they failed to speak to him or he disagrees with the plan, they will proceed to issue a court order to obtain the house.... I wouldn't be surprised if he tried changing the locks so I can't access the property.

i think there is too many issues going on here.  it sounds like your husband has been involved in money laundering or tax evasion and is currently being investigated.  without doubt, HMRC will be in touch soon!

this means that your house is in danger of being repossessed.  if it turns out that the money your husband has used to pay the mortgage is proceeds of crime / money laundering and tax evasion, then the house isn't yours anyway to worry about as you haven't used legit money to pay for it.

i would start to think about moving as it sounds to me like this is inevitable and if he is being investigated, you won't be able to sell the house anyway as he won't pass the ALM test.

Poppet86

AskAsk said:

Poppet86 said:

Mands said:

Poppet86 said:

It actually makes me feel sick, I don't want the house to be repossessed. As the impact it will naturally have on me too. I really can't afford a solicitor. Ive watched large quantities of money enter the joint account so naturally I only questioned why the mortgage wasn't getting paid... All his bank accounts have been frozen.  removed myself off the joint account yesterday and the bank advised they would be taking action further as the money entering has gone into a separate savings account. Let's just say it's in excess of my houses value. I honestly don't know what to do, the stress this is causing me is indescribable.... 

Your husband is unwell, can not work and has zero income. Is that correct? But money has been paid into his sole account (recently?) which is in excess of the value of the house?

Where did that money come from? Why is it not being used to pay the mortgage? Who has paid money, to the tune of tens (hundreds?) of thousands of pounds into his account. When you say he has gone awol what do you mean? 

Correct.He apparently isn't working ( was self employed for 15 years) and told me he had no income or savings now.... but obviously our joint account we held for the mortgage and bills said otherwise. The bank are now investigating him for money laundering...  Ive spoken to the mortgage lender again today and they have just advised me of another solution, which wasn't even given or explained to me (switching to a interested only account) regardless, it's not an option for me, so I've gone through the motions of setting up a payment plan only to be told, they will try and contact him and if they failed to speak to him or he disagrees with the plan, they will proceed to issue a court order to obtain the house.... I wouldn't be surprised if he tried changing the locks so I can't access the property.

i think there is too many issues going on here.  it sounds like your husband has been involved in money laundering or tax evasion and is currently being investigated.  without doubt, HMRC will be in touch soon!

this means that your house is in danger of being repossessed.  if it turns out that the money your husband has used to pay the mortgage is proceeds of crime / money laundering and tax evasion, then the house isn't yours anyway to worry about as you haven't used legit money to pay for it.

i would start to think about moving as it sounds to me like this is inevitable and if he is being investigated, you won't be able to sell the house anyway as he won't pass the ALM test.

I haven't lived in the martial home for nearly a year now, he kindly kicked me out a week after I signed for the mortgage. I have my own personal bank account and I am totally separate from him and his affairs away ( only the house ties us) the hmrc are already involved and have been for a few years. His issue not mine. I'm just trying to be the adult here in all of this, while he continues to hide. I don't have any bad credit and I've done everything  by the book. Our mortgage provider really isn't helping and I've done what I can do my end.... 

AskAsk

Poppet86 said:

AskAsk said:

Poppet86 said:

Mands said:

Poppet86 said:

It actually makes me feel sick, I don't want the house to be repossessed. As the impact it will naturally have on me too. I really can't afford a solicitor. Ive watched large quantities of money enter the joint account so naturally I only questioned why the mortgage wasn't getting paid... All his bank accounts have been frozen.  removed myself off the joint account yesterday and the bank advised they would be taking action further as the money entering has gone into a separate savings account. Let's just say it's in excess of my houses value. I honestly don't know what to do, the stress this is causing me is indescribable.... 

Your husband is unwell, can not work and has zero income. Is that correct? But money has been paid into his sole account (recently?) which is in excess of the value of the house?

Where did that money come from? Why is it not being used to pay the mortgage? Who has paid money, to the tune of tens (hundreds?) of thousands of pounds into his account. When you say he has gone awol what do you mean? 

Correct.He apparently isn't working ( was self employed for 15 years) and told me he had no income or savings now.... but obviously our joint account we held for the mortgage and bills said otherwise. The bank are now investigating him for money laundering...  Ive spoken to the mortgage lender again today and they have just advised me of another solution, which wasn't even given or explained to me (switching to a interested only account) regardless, it's not an option for me, so I've gone through the motions of setting up a payment plan only to be told, they will try and contact him and if they failed to speak to him or he disagrees with the plan, they will proceed to issue a court order to obtain the house.... I wouldn't be surprised if he tried changing the locks so I can't access the property.

i think there is too many issues going on here.  it sounds like your husband has been involved in money laundering or tax evasion and is currently being investigated.  without doubt, HMRC will be in touch soon!

this means that your house is in danger of being repossessed.  if it turns out that the money your husband has used to pay the mortgage is proceeds of crime / money laundering and tax evasion, then the house isn't yours anyway to worry about as you haven't used legit money to pay for it.

i would start to think about moving as it sounds to me like this is inevitable and if he is being investigated, you won't be able to sell the house anyway as he won't pass the ALM test.

I haven't lived in the martial home for nearly a year now, he kindly kicked me out a week after I signed for the mortgage. I have my own personal bank account and I am totally separate from him and his affairs away ( only the house ties us) the hmrc are already involved and have been for a few years. His issue not mine. I'm just trying to be the adult here in all of this, while he continues to hide. I don't have any bad credit and I've done everything  by the book. Our mortgage provider really isn't helping and I've done what I can do my end.... 

as i have said, unfortunately you aren't going to get very far with this as it sounds like there are events going on that takes it out of your control.  when he kicked you out, that would have been the time to kick up a fuss as you could have called the police and ask them to let you back in, but of course, if he is violent, that may not have been a good idea.

i am not surprised the mortgage lender isn't more helpful as they are probably preparing to repossess the property but they did offer you to change the mortgage to interest only to help you keep the house.  however, as you aren't living there, it may not be a good idea to plough any more money into it as you may not get it back when the house gets repossessed or your husband wants half of it when he has stopped paying the mortgage.