Where to start!!!!!

A question about : Where to start!!!!!

Hi

This is my first time posting I have been a lurking for years but would appreciate any help that anyone can give me regarding my situation.

My husband and I are recently married and live together in a council house, I work full time as a teaching assistant and my husband doesn't work due to ill health but receives a private pension from the company he did work for, so still receives a wage effectively every month.

My husband and his ex wife have a joint debt of Ј16,200 for a mortgage that they had on a property in 2009. We were chased by a debt collection agency and started to make payments of Ј100 per month to pay this debt. However it became clear that my husbands ex wife has no interest in paying her share of the debt and therefore we stopped making the payments.

My husband is not in a position to pay the full debt but is willing to pay his half, however this seems pointless if his ex wife is not willing to pay her half as they will then chase my husband for the full amount.

I don't know where we stand with regards to Bankruptcy or any other options to clear this debt and how it will affect myself and my children as we are married.

Sorry for the long post but any help that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading

Kerry

Best answers:

• Hi Kerry,
  I would get some professional advice, you could start out by going to see CAB. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
• Thank you we are going to try and get an appointment in the next couple of weeks.
  Thanks for replying.
  Kerry xx
• Hi
  If you cannot get a CAB appointment for a bit then it may be worth phoning national debtline for some advice on your situation. This factsheet may also answer some of your questions https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/...y/Default.aspx
  It may be useful to put together a statement of affairs/list of income, expenditure and debts before you speak to a debt advisor as that will help them give you better advice about your specific situation.
  In terms of bankruptcy/marriage, being married does not link your credit files, but having joint accounts does.
  Being married does not make you legally responsible for your husband's debts, however if he did go bankrupt it could affect the household finances as he may be required to pay an IPA (income payment arrangement) for 3 years out of his disposable income (if he has any). There are other possible implications, e.g. if you needed to rent privately in the next few years then his bankruptcy could make things more difficult.
• Thanks Tixy for your response, we don't have a lot of disposable income at the moment and thankfully we wont need to private rent either. We should have got this sorted out before but other things just get in the way!!!
  We are keen to get it sorted so that hopefully once my degree is completed and I am (fingers crossed) earning a better wage we can enjoy a few luxuries (a holiday would be lovely). My husband knows this debt is his joint responsibility and is not trting to get out of paying it, but he will only pay his half of the debt (We know a joint debt isn't dealt with like that).
  Thanks again
  Kerry x