could the trustee still force me to sell my home

[carol.h]

my ex-husband has just been discharged from bankruptcy (early) his name is on the deeds and the mortgage for my house, he has never lived in the property or contributed to the mortgage, could the trustee still force me to sell my home, i have 4 children.

[mish1953]

Carol, if hes been discharged already and you havent heard anything , I think that you should be safe ...but the OR has up to 3 years to sort the property out.
I dot know what to say .. keep quiet .. or speak to the local insolvency service and ask ..
dunno
Mish

[MelanieGiles]

What contact have you had with the OR or your husband's trustee? Just because he has been discharged from bankruptcy, does not mean that his interest in the house has been abandoned. As Mish says, the Trustee has to serve you with notice of his intentions before two weeks before the end of the three year period from the date of the bankruptcy order. A good starting point would be to effect a H M Land Registry search - you can do this online for £3 to see if the Official Receiver has registered a restriction against the property. if not, then it is probably safe to assume that he has no interest, but to be absolutely sure you ought to check directly with the OR.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[carol.h]

Melanie and Mish, this is the second reply i have attemted to post, lets hope it gets there, i hope i'm not repeating myself but here goes. I have had no contact with the OR or the trustee apart from the legal bumf i received last November when my ex was made bankrupt, a restriction was placed on the property immediately, could it have been lifted, would my solicitor have been informed?
If i telephone the OR's office will they give me the information with me being the third party? I had no idea it could take upto three years, my solicitor told me one year! two more years of uncertainty could put me in an early grave, this is all so stressful.

[mish1953]

Carol, try not to be stressed, I know its not easy. I think what you need is information and reassurence .
Generally the OR will try and sort it all out within a year, nut has got up to 3 years to sort it. After that they have no intrest.
If there is no equity in the property then you can be pretty sure that the OR is not intrested at all.
I would phone the OR's office and explain the situation, they cant give you any legal advice but they should be able to tell you about the property and whether they have an interest in it.
Have you got any kids ? I am a single dad , and the OR will be taking my house within the next 12 months as I there is equity in the house.. not sure what they do when separted wife etc ..

Mish

[carol.h]

Mish, thanks for the advice, the main reason for my stress is that this has nothing to do with me in a sense, my ex was made bankrupt through credit card debt and his own foolishness, after we were divorced, he's an alcoholic and on benefit now. I have tons of equity in my house which is worrying. I do have children, 4 of them, all at home too! It angers me more because he's never lived in the house or contributed to the mortgage, his name is only on the deeds because i couldn't get a mortgage on my own and i needed to move quickly, what a mistake that was, hindsight and all that! I am off work next week so will make the effort to ring the OR's office first thing monday! Thanks again.

[mish1953]

Carol , if you can afford it may I also suggest a solicitor and get the deeds put into your name . it may cost a bit ..

Your Welcome

[MelanieGiles]

Carol

You definately need to engage the services of a good solicitor with knowledge of insolvency proceedings. Let me know what part of the country you live in, and I will try to recommend somebody.

Firstly, though, you do need to speak to the Official Receiver to see what his/her position is. This matter will not go away, and with rising property prices that equity is going to be getting bigger by the day.

Sounds to me as though your husband does not have an interest in the property, but you will probably need to fight for that and be able to show evidence to the Official Receiver that he has not contributed anything to the property.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[catullus]

A couple of things that you haven't mentioned Carol that might affect the position are

1 You say that he is your ex husband. Are you divorced and, if so,did a court make a matrimonial order in respect of your assets, or are your financial arrangements informal?

2 You say that your husband has never contributed to the mortgage but did he put any money in to the original purchase?

These two issues could significantly influence the overall outcome.

[carol.h]

Melanie, thanks again for the advice, all very helpful, i do have a solicitor but can't afford to meet with him as often as i perhaps should and i wouldn't be able to take the issue to court, my solicitor isn't keen to go down the legal aid route, although i do qualify. I live near Bingley, West yorkshire, so if you could recommend a solicitor in Bradford, Keighley or at a push Leeds who i could apply for legal aid with i would be most grateful.
Regards Carol

[carol.h]

Catullus, thank you for raising the points you did. Yes i am divorced and have been for 5 years, no court order was made regarding assets or maintenance, everything was very informal, i wanted to maintain a good relationship with my ex and we worked things out amicably, this is partly why i'm in this situation now, we took out a joint mortgage purely so that our children wouldn't suffer any more disruption than was necessary, ie. schools etc. A small deposit was put on the house (£6000) from the sale of the marital home, we had a fairly big mortgage and after everything was paid there wasn't alot left, i would have no problem providing evidence to show my ex has made no contribution to the mortgage financially or that he has ever lived here, surely that has to count for something!

[mish1953]

Carol - its a quiet night on here you might not get a proper reply till tomorrow

Mish

[catullus]

Hello Carol,

Hmmmmm, this is quite a tricky one.Some more questions I'm afraid.

1 What would you estimate the equity in your house was now worth.

2 Why did your husbands name go on the title deeds when it was only you paying the mortgage?

3 Has your husband been paying you maintenance?

[MelanieGiles]

If your husband has made no financial contribution to this property at all, and it can be proven that tiy have always paid the mortgage, I certainly feel that it is unlikely that he would be awarded a 50% share. But the fact is that he is a legal owner of the property, and that interest is therefore vested in a Trustee in bankruptcy.

Before leaping into any form a legal advice, you need to contact the Official Receiver to see what his position is. I would do this tomorrow to set your mind at rest and at least find out what you are up against.

Why does your lawyer not wish you to apply for Legal Aid?


Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[carol.h]

Melanie,

Thanks again, my solicitor is reluctant to apply for legal aid because he says it's not profitable for him, he tells me the rules on legal aid have changed and that not as many solicitors use it as before, as i am not 'up' on all the legalities i tend to listen to his advice, but i would be perhaps better finding someone more suitable.

Carol