If a spouse gets into stupid-sized personal debt...
Discussion
...and the bailiffs are called in, can they take property that is joint owned in the relationship.
Hypothetically speaking, of course, (as she would surely never be so pigheadedly stupid......) if my wife were to owe thousands and people wanted to start collecting on it, would they have any rights to our house, or could they come in and help themselves to the tv etc?
Could I, hypothetically speaking of course, have her name taken off the house papers, as it is currently in both our names? We still owe 50% mortgage on it.
Hypothetically speaking, of course, (as she would surely never be so pigheadedly stupid......) if my wife were to owe thousands and people wanted to start collecting on it, would they have any rights to our house, or could they come in and help themselves to the tv etc?
Could I, hypothetically speaking of course, have her name taken off the house papers, as it is currently in both our names? We still owe 50% mortgage on it.
LittleMiss said:
If it's unsecured debt then they can't force the sale of your house.
Time to start cutting up cards and negotiating with the companies to freeze the debt and start a repayment programme.
That is a relief. Time to start cutting up cards and negotiating with the companies to freeze the debt and start a repayment programme.
She's cut up the cards, seems to be paying them off now, with help from me, but she still has a bank debit card to her own account, and now that is getting a steadily darker shade of red with little purchases here and there that she shouldn't really be buying.
I just wish savings accounts would fill up the same way credit cards do: just a little here, a little there, and voila: £500
LittleMiss said:
If it's unsecured debt then they can't force the sale of your house.
Not immediately.But they can apply for a charging order over her share of the house (assuming of course that it is jointly owned) once they have a judgment for a cash sum. And once they have that, they can seek an order for sale.
They may not get it - but would you want to take that chance....? It elicits at least partial payment, more often than not.
Persuading a bailiff that goods are jointly owned may prove to be difficult unless you have receipts.
Be aware that they don't have any automatic right of access. Don't let them in and it makes their job an awful lot harder.....
Lurking Lawyer said:
LittleMiss said:
If it's unsecured debt then they can't force the sale of your house.
Not immediately.But they can apply for a charging order over her share of the house (assuming of course that it is jointly owned) once they have a judgment for a cash sum. And once they have that, they can seek an order for sale.
They may not get it - but would you want to take that chance....? It elicits at least partial payment, more often than not.
Persuading a bailiff that goods are jointly owned may prove to be difficult unless you have receipts.
Be aware that they don't have any automatic right of access. Don't let them in and it makes their job an awful lot harder.....
If push comes to shove I can bail her out, at the moment, but it bugs me that I should have to do that when she has her own job and all, hypothetically speaking, of course.....
Thanks for the info.
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