settlement on divorce

[lewis010200]

My partner is going through a divorce his wife is in the marital home of which her solicitor is advising her to sell. His wife is on benefits they have about 20,000 equity but about 15,000 of outstanding debts to pay off of which some are in joint names. she claims they are going to say 80% to her 20% to him on completion, but do the outstanding debts have to be settled before equity is shared or will he be saddled with all the debt? they have 4 children.

[themas]

The normal procedure is that all the assets and all the debts (of both parties) are put into the pot. Then if the couple can't agree on the way they should be divided up the Court will eventually decide. This can be long drawn out and expensive (legal costs, possibly including barristers) so it is much better to come to a compromise settlement if possible.

The debts are in the pot so what happens to them is part of the settlement. Any that are secured on the house HAVE to be paid off when it is sold. For unsecured debts, if payments fall into arrears the creditor can chase either party if they are in joint names, but only the party who took out the loan/credit card etc. if in the sole name of one party. It is far better for all joint debts to be paid off, because if one party accepts responsibility to keep up the payments but fails to do so the other party can be chased by the creditor.

[lady_p_gold]

It seems strange that they are advising her to sell the house .... then she will have nowhere to live and no money to speak of to get somewhere else .... what with the fee to the solicitor I would say that there will be nothing left at the end of it all for either party.