When my husband and I divorced, the family court ordered our house should be sold. In the meantime, it ruled my ex was to live in it and pay the mortgage, which was in our joint names. I warned the court he had a history of missed payments.
The house has proved hard to sell, and the mortgage is now five months in arrears. The bank is about to start repossession proceedings. My credit rating has already plummeted and a repossession will leave me struggling to get a mortgage. My lawyers tell me that I can’t go back to the family court about the damage to my credit rating because it is outside its remit, even though the court imposed this situation on me in the first place.
GS, Dorset
This is an agonising situation for you and I really hoped I could find you a path out of it. I began with the Judicial Office, which said it was unable to comment generally or specifically on what options are available in such circumstances. The Law Society was also unable to provide any wisdom. So I consulted the debt charity StepChange, which had just published a report on coerced debt.
It confirmed that even if you were to go back to the courts, you are still contractually liable for the joint debt to the mortgage lender. It suggested that, contrary to your lawyers’ advice, your ex-husband’s failure to follow a court order is potentially in contempt of court and that a judge may issue enforcement penalties against him or amend the original decision. You should perhaps consult a new lawyer about this.
Lastly, I tried the credit reference agency Experian. It reckoned you could explain the situation to the mortgage lender and provide a copy of the court judgment to see whether they could offer a way out. Failing that, you could add a written statement termed a “notice of correction” to the files of all three main credit reference agencies, explaining the circumstances to prospective lenders and offering supporting evidence. It won’t repair the damaged score, but could help support any future credit applications.
Source: www.theguardian.com