Transfer of property to Son

[Unknownone]

Hi,

I own my own property (no mortage) and currently suffering very serious financial difficulty. I want to transfer my property to my son to prevent the property being repossessed. I have understood form the forum that I can sell the property to my son for as little as £1.00 but want to know what ramifications there may be with my debtors. Will they still be in a position to take any action that would involve the property. I don' mind my Son owning the property it will eventually end up his in any case. I have bared my sole here and would be grateful for any advice you might be able to provide.

[sandyRoe]

It might seem that you had disposed of an asset in order to avoid paying debts. Your creditors would take a dim view of that.

[Unknownone]

Hi, Thank you for your reply. I completely understand that. However, what I am attempting to establish is what can they legally do?

[sandyRoe]

You need legal advice from a solicitor. If your creditors could get you to a court the judge would think that you'd disposed of the property in order to avoid paying your debts.

[Unknownone]

Many thanks. However, As I have stated I am suffering very serious hardship and unable to pay for the service of a solicitor. Hence my entering the forum.

[sandyRoe]

You'll probably get the answers you need in the morning. There are a few legal eagles who spend some time answering questions here then.

[Jemisa]

You say you own your property (no mortgage) so how can you be reposessed?

If you are in dire finantial circumstances why not think of Negative Equity where you can borrow money to help your lifestyle against your house (maybe £20.000) when your house is sold after death the Neg/Eq co' will take this money plus interest back & the rest will go to your son.
Go to a bank/ build/socy and ask about it.

jem

[Buenchico]

If your creditors petitioned for your bankruptcy (or you applied for bankruptcy yourself), the court would regard giving away your property, in order to prevent your creditors receiving payment, as 'unfit conduct'. That would result in a Bankruptcy Restriction Order against you, meaning that (instead of your bankruptcy just lasting for 12 months) you could face restrictions for up to 15 years. Breaking the order could lead to imprisonment
http://www.insolvency...guidetobankruptcy.pdf

Chris

[Unknownone]

Hi, What I in fact meant was, could the creditors take action against me that would involve taking my home, I now understand this would not be repossession. The debts are unsecured but I am unsure about charging orders etc...

[Unknownone]

Hi Jemisa, As the debt I owe exceeds the sale value of my home I have been turned away on many occasions from lenders.

[oilmart1]

You can't get away with this. They will check the land registry and they will know you own it. Any debt over £750 or so is bankruptable if you don't come to an arrangement to pay monthly. They can put a charge for the debt on your home too so if you sell it, they get their money first.

What you COULD do, is come to an arrangment to pay £10 or whatever you can afford a month, they will put the charge on your home, then you can try and sell your home for a price that you want to cover buying another home AND paying off your debts, eg you owe say £10,000 debt, house worth £150k say, sell ur house for £160 then you will get 150k and the finance co their 10k. If you sell for £1 to ur son, the judge will reverse this transaction in court and you will be bankrupted at that point anyway unless you can pay up every penny on court day to save your home. How much are your debts and how much is your home worth? Cant you get a job to pay off the debts?

[oilmart1]

Oh by they way, try not to let it get to court and bankruptcy because the official receiver is extremely expensive so you will incur quite a few thousand extra which will come off the sale of your home. Basically, everyone else gets paid first before you when it comes to bankruptcy AND GET THIS....the official receiver doesn't care how much he sells your house for so long as it is enough to pay off HIM and your debts so you may be left with absolutely nothing if it goes cheap at auction. Please don't let it get this far. Just try and get a job and pay a monthly agreed amount and get it in writing through your citizens advice centre so they can't CHANGE their minds. If you have a voluntary charge on the home, you can usually pay a lot less per month cos they know they will get their money anyway. I was paying £10/month untill I got a full market sale of my home. Dont let the OR get hold of your home if you can help it!

[bednobs]

hi, how much are the debts compared to how much your home is worth? you say the debts exceed the value of the home, don't mean to be rude but are you sure?

[themas]

1. Transferring the house to your son is most unlikely to succeed. Your creditors are almost certain to know already that you own it & they can check this (& the fact that there is no mortgage) at the Land Registry. They can still check this if you pass it to your son. They will then proceed to bankrupt you. The house will then be sold to pay as much as possible of the debts because (as Chris has said) your transfer of it to your son would be treated as void - an attempt to put an asset beyond your creditors' reach.

2. You need to decide what you want to achieve.

3. If you want to get rid of your debts then probably the best way is to sell the house before any charging orders are put on it, use some of the money to find somewhere to rent (i.e. to pay the deposit & some rent in advance) & use the rest of the money to make a full and final settlement offer to the creditors. If the creditors won't accept your offer you may have to make yourself bankrupt to clear the debts. Note that, as you have a bad credit record, you are almost certain to need a guarantor for the rent.

4. If you want to stay in the house then you need to try to make an instalment payment agreement with the creditors - the amount you pay each month being based on what you can afford to pay from your present income. However, given the size of your debts this will probably be very difficult to get accepted & - even if it was - would very likely result in you having the debts hanging over you for the rest of your life. Any debt remaining when you die would then have to be paid out of your estate, which would include the proceeds from selling the house.

5. So your son will not end up with the house (or its value) whatever you do.

6. You need advice from a professional debt adviser - local CAB or ring CCCS. Do not get tied up with any fee charging outfit, or anyone who suggests doing an IVA (which is tota

[themas]

Last few words of post cut off:

..... (which is totally wrong for your situation).