Applying for Divorce and defaulting on Mortgage/

T

ToonLoon

Guest
Hi All,
Some background…. Got married 6 years ago, after only 2 years of marriage, the wife had affair and left the family home, thankfully… there were no kids.

Upon marriage we purchased a property in joint names for the “family home”. This property is now worth €110k, and the remaining mortgage is €115k (in joint names). There is another house, that’s solely in my name, which I have rented out. I purchased this property before the marriage. ..and topped up on it’s mortgage by €80k in order to buy the “family home” when married. The remaining mortgage on this property is now €120k and the property value is approx €100k.

I have remained living in the “family home” for the 4 years and have managed to maintain payment of all the mortages for the past 4 years without any contribution from her.

For the past 2 years I have being trying to get her to commit to some kind of a separation agreement. I have offered to buy her out of the “family home” for €65k, but she refused this offer. In the past year it has become apparent that I can no longer afford to keep the “family home” so I need to either give the house to her or sell the property.

I asked the bank to transfer the remaining mortgage into her name. They said that they would meet with her to discuss this, but she has refused to arrange a meeting with them. She is refusing to sign anything to sell the “family home” as she wants to keep this property and rent it out for her own means.

Over the 4 years I have spent a lot of money on (€35k approx.) mortgages and solictors letters.
I have given up on this being resolved amicably by separation agreement and I feel that I now have no other option but to defualt on the mortgage and apply for divorce.

Does anyone have any experience of a situation like this or advice on how I should approach this… or even another suggestion on how I can get rid of all this, as I am at my wits end ?
 
Issue Divorce proceedings. Seek an order for sale of the "family home". There is no equity in that. Seek to keep other property in your sole name. Especially in circumstances where you remortgaged that to buy the fh.

If the situation is as you say, there should be no maintenance or pension orders. There should be no lump sum payment to her. It should be a clean break with, at worse, some small debt left over on the fh- which you will probably end up carrying, if she will not engage. It may well be worth it if it gives you the clean break.

mf
 
Why would you offer to buy her out of a property that is in negative equity?
You need advise from a solicitor in respect of separation issues. This is not something that your wife can just ignore.
The family home is currently your PDH. However, it is in the name of both parties and the Bank can do nothing without agreement of both. There is no reason for them to agree to transfer the loan into the name of 1 party. This would increase their risk and is unlikely to be agreed.
You state that your wife is ignoring the mortgage issue. In that event you are probably best advised to tell the Bank that you will co-operate with re-posession proceedings on the property. You will still be fully liable for any shortfall in the loan. However, you may well be in a position to agree some compromise with the Bank in return for your co-operation on repossession.
The whole situation is unfortunate and there appears to be no easy solution without the co-operation of both parties.
 
Thanks for the replies.

The reason for offering the 65k was an attempt at speeding things up and getting a quick resolution. In hindsight.. thanks be to God she didn't accept it... i'd be in a terribly financial situation today.

In terms of transferring the Family Home mortgage into her name, the bank have told me off the record that the chances of this happening are very very slim.

To be fair the bank have been very understanding so far and have said that they will help in any way. They are aware that I have been totally up front all the time. I applied for interest only payments in March last year, but the wife refused to sign the application for 9 months.

If i issue the divorce proceedings, does the judge take all these into account in making a judgement ?

The whole thing is very unfortunate, but what drives me crazy is her total lack of cooperation. The marriage is over, and i'm ok with that, so, at least have the respect and decency to let it all go!
 
Get a solicitor well experienced in family law and follow his advice.
It does appear to be a frustration to you and that is understandable. Kepp the Bank informed of what you are doing and hopefully in time a resolution will be reached.
Good luck :)
 
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