Would appreciate some help please

[Flowingone]

Hopefully someone can advise.

My husband and I have been married for many many years and owned our own home for more than 20. We ran a LTD company that went bust a year ago.

We had to sell our home to pay off debt for the LTD company we stupidly gave a personal guarantee on.

We were left with some money out of the house sale (enough probably for a very modest house) but again stupidly we also borrowed in my husband’s name on cards and loans to raise money for the business, to the tune of 80K.

Since the business went we have been doing odd jobs while we discuss and think about where to go next. The money left from the sale of the house is in an account in my name, my husband is paying a pound per week to the debts (organised by StepChange), I have no debt in my name at all.

During our discussions my husband has said over and over for the last year that he doesn’t want to live with this debt but go bust and wipe the slate clean otherwise he feels it will be with him for many years, which I agree with as 80K is a lot of money. Also we both feel if we buy a house it would immediately be at risk.

However as you can imagine I’ve done a hell of a lot of reading online in the last year, and I recently came across something very interesting, a CAB page (pasted below) which suggested that if a property is owned solely by you, your partner can go bankrupt without affecting that property.

Well the thing is the house we sold was in my sole ownership for 10 years, so was our previous house for 5, and even the one before that for 4. In other words ONLY my name was ever on the deeds for any of these properties. This wasn’t done for any particular reason, it just seemed to happen that way, I guess because my earnings were enough at that time to do it.

The only concerns I do have are:

1, We lived together in the house at the time my husband’s debts were created so I guess it will be difficult to prove my husband isn't entitled to a legal share of the property even though it wasn't in his name.

2, We aren’t currently talking about a property but money in the bank, although we do have our eye on one that might sell cheap enough to afford it.

3, When these cards or loans in my husband’s name were originally applied for (between 10 and 1 years ago) we may have ticked the HOMEOWNER box on at least some!

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

Alice


https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/de...r-is-bankrupt/

[The Tech Clerk]

Diana Mayhew might be able to advise here, (if I read correctly you both acted as guarantor on this Ltd company??)

[The Tech Clerk]

CCA Request to each card holder with £1.00 Postal Order send Recorded Delivery and keep a diary for each one and a separate correspondence file for starters? is what I would suggest?

[Flowingone]

Diana Mayhew might be able to advise here, (if I read correctly you both acted as guarantor on this Ltd company??)

Thanks The Tech Clerk. Yes we did both act as guarantor.

[Flowingone]

CCA Request to each card holder with £1.00 Postal Order send Recorded Delivery and keep a diary for each one and a separate correspondence file for starters? is what I would suggest?

Thanks, Yes having read many of the threads on here I can see how this would be a way to go if we were to want to try and minimise the liability as opposed to the bankruptcy route but don’t see a valid reason for doing it yet. The question at the moment is whether the money left from the sale of the house, or property purchased with it, it is safe if my husband were to take the bankruptcy route.

[The Tech Clerk]

Await Di response

[Flowingone]

Will do thanks

[The Tech Clerk]

Diana Mayhew

[Flowingone]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to somewhere else I can try for advice? I understand if the likes of Diana Mayhew give their time as a volunteer they are bound to have times when they just aren't availabe, however we could really do with getting on with this.

Thanks

[The Tech Clerk]

hold on here weekend over

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to somewhere else I can try for advice?

Your husband needs to take face to face advice from a FCA regulated debt adviser if he is considering bankruptcy.

You say he's already taken advice on a DMP from StepChange so perhaps that would be his next step.

I can't comment on his situation as I don't know the full facts.

Your husband needs to look at the overall picture which includes any financial interest he may have had in the property (the marital home) before it was sold and the proceeds banked, even if it was in your sole name.

He also needs to make the debt adviser aware of any pension he has etc.

However if you would like help establishing whether the debts are enforceable in law first, then make a separate post for each one so that the forum members can guide you.

If some or all of these debts are unenforceable then he may not need to consider bankruptcy.

I know you say "we could really do with getting on with this" but gong bankrupt is a major decision not to be taken likely, even if the research takes a while.

Di

[Flowingone]

Many thanks for finding the time to do this Di it's much appreciated. We will consider our options.

One last thing if you would. Because the property was always in my name only, when we took out the business loan and made the personal guarantee my husband had to sign a document (we think it could be called a deed of postponement) so that if they had to foreclose on the loan he couldn't stop the repossession of the house.

If we can work out the solicitor we used and find this document is it of any use?

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

My husband and I have been married for many many years and owned our own home for more than 20. We ran a LTD company that went bust a year ago.

We had to sell our home to pay off debt for the LTD company we stupidly gave a personal guarantee on.

In your first post you said "we" gave a Personal Guarantee, but if the house was in your sole name that may not have been the case.

In your last post you say a Deed of Postponement was signed by your husband, which I presume means the Personal Guarantee was not signed by him.

Which lender had the Personal Guarantee for your limited company?

Was it a forced sale (possession proceedings) or was it a voluntary sale because you decided to call it a day with the business?

Di

[Flowingone]

Thanks.

So although I can’t be exactly sure what they called the document my husband signed it was to relinquish any financial claim on the property because it was in my sole name. We are however both 85/90% sure the personal guarantee was signed by us both, I guess our thinking always being that a guarantee is a guarantee and assets might not only ever be in the form of that particular property even if this is the case when it was signed.

Lender was Lloyds

Voluntary sale, I sold the house and cleared the mortgage (again in my sole name) and the Lloyds finance through the solicitor on completion of the sale.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

I can’t be exactly sure what they called the document my husband signed it was to relinquish any financial claim on the property because it was in my sole name. We are however both 85/90% sure the personal guarantee was signed by us both, I guess our thinking always being that a guarantee is a guarantee and assets might not only ever be in the form of that particular property even if this is the case when it was signed.

Lender was Lloyds

Voluntary sale, I sold the house and cleared the mortgage (again in my sole name) and the Lloyds finance through the solicitor on completion of the sale.

Perhaps your husband was asked to sign the document to "relinquish any financial claim on the property" because the lender (Lloyds) believed that he had a potential financial interest?

You need to get formal legal advice on whether that means he has a 'financial interest' in the proceeds of the sale regardless of whose bank account they are in. Perhaps talk to the solicitor who you instructed to deal with the sale.

I was trying to see if there was a possibility that the bank had acted improperly in any way during legal proceedings (possession) but you say this was a voluntary sale.

Why not still post about the unsecured debts on the forum (one at a time) to see if any of them are unenforceable, and then your husband can decide whether he wants to continue to pay them.

Di