It is looking likley that my husband will have to go bankrupt shortly. We are managing to meet all minimum credit card payments out of my savings at the minute, but the pot will very soon be empty and there is no sign of work for my husband on the horizon.
I am very new to this and have been reading up loads on the internet - the more I read the more confused I get!!
The one thing keeping me awake at night is our house. I am OK with the whole bankruptcy thing so long as we can keep the house. We have a joint mortgage so thought we should be OK.
When I met my husband I moved into his house and around 3 and half years ago we needed to remortgage so I also went on the mortgage. Since then I have been paying the monthly payments myself. We have also moved house since then.
I have read about a 5 year rule? And this is where i am confused, would me going onto the mortgage be considered as my husband giving me his asset? Not that I see it as that I have been paying the mortgage ever since and the asset no longer exists as we have moved house since then. And what records would the OR look at to become aware of this??
The Official Receiver is interested in asstes that might be sold / realised to help with the costs of Br and to share between the creditors.
The OR is not interested in the actual house but rather the equity in the property therefore if you are both on the mortgage the OR would be interested in the equity that your husband has.
If the house is in negative equity then there is still and interest but this is deemed to be worth £1 and you can actually buy your husbands interest back from the OR for the £1 plus legal costs.
I would recommend you confirm the amount outstanding on the mortgage and what the house is actually worth with a local estate agents. Don't forget that they are usually optimistic about values.
double check these figures then we can discuss the options available from there. Incidentally you should do this quickly before you spend more of your savings on paying these debts because you might need the savings to secure the house .
I know we have £120k o/s on the mortgage. I will get a valuation done, but think the house would be worth around £150k. We bought it for £175k two and a half years ago and prices have dropped since then.
With the figures above we wouldn't be in negative equity, would there still be an option for me to keep the house?
likely that my husband will have to go bankrupt shortly
Posted - 09 May 2009 : 20:32:11
