www.iva.co.uk

Need some advice please ... bear with me as this is a little long winded [:)]

Trying to work out my equity share in our home as considering an IVA ... I owe £32500 in unsecured debts .. bank loans,overdraft, credit cards.

When we bought our house my wife from a former property had a deposit of £100k and as I was recently divorced had nothing as deposit .. purchase price was £320k so mortgage of £220k was taken out of which £60k is my wifes share (27%) and my share was £160k (73%)

hope your still following this .... fast foward to present day house now prob worth about £270k ish on normal market and a lot less in a forced sale ... total mortgage debt is £202k which by my rough calculations means I owe £147k (the 73% mentioned earlier)

So half of £270k sale price is £135k less £147k as my debt makes me negative by about £12k.

Is this a fair calculation or would they just look at it as a total picture of house value less mortgage which would mean my wife would be loosing a lot of the £100k she put in.

Off to see an ISP next week but would like some advice first.

Thanks for listening this far [:)]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

I'm not an expert so can't answer your question but will bump this up for an expert opinion.

You can always try www.iva.com for a list of companies (comparison site). When gaining advice do take the advice of 2 or 3 companies as you can ensure case specific impartial advice.

Hi. If you purchased the property ( as is usual for couples) as joint tenants you will each own 50%, regardless of your individual contributions.

If you purchased as tenants in common, then you would have divided ownership by proportion, if that was your intention at the time.

Therefore, and I stand to be corrected, your IP will divide on a 50/50 basis.

Using the equity of exonoration, taking a property value of £270k, less a mortgage of £202k, this leaves equity of £68k which your wife fill completely own in lieu of her £100k investment. So no equity for you to worry about in the IVA - as long as this money genuinely came from her own funds and you had no interest in that.

Make sure your IP accepts this argument - it is commonly used in insolvency law.

That is the equitable (forgive the pun) way to proceed, Mel. But would the creditors want some form of evidence as to the initial contributions? Playing Devil's Advocate, if I were a creditor I would fall back on my suppositions, above, in the absence of such.

Thanks for replies so far ... feeling so ashamed to have got to this stage ... just to clarify in case anyone thinks why dont he remortgage to release some equity - tried that but only get as far as enquiry stage due to the dreaded words of "self employed" and only 1st year accounts ... the mortgage companies dont like the self employed these days !! ..... also tried selling house to downsize but no takers after 12 months on market.

Hi Melanie .... you one reply has just lifted a huge weight from my shoulders ... do you take clients on from North Wales ??

The 100k came from her sole property she sold so we could buy this one .. she bought it 2 years previous before I met her from the proceeds of a divorce settlement and a mortgage in her own name.

Hi Foggy ... good point you make ... would my previous reply regarding where the 100k came from keep you satisfied as a devils advocate [:)]

Mel takes clients on from anywhere!!

Iambroke ---- Mel isn't allowed to say this -- but, in my humble opinion, her firm is a "must speak to"

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by iambroke

Hi Foggy ... good point you make ... would my previous reply regarding where the 100k came from keep you satisfied as a devils advocate [:)]

It would depend upon how the matter was put to me by the IP [:)] In any capacity -- even devil's advocate, I would certainly give any arguement Mel put my way serious consideration [B)]

We certainly do - my head office is in Cardiff but we have various regional offices and I am currently in the process of opening one in the Mold area. Hoping to get a trip up to North Wales over the next couple of weeks, so if you are interested in meeting up e-mail me your details and I can arrange.

Evidence of the transaction may be required by creditors, but from what iambroke has stated this will be very easy to prove - and in the many cases I have presented on this basis over the last 15 years or so, I have never been asked to provide proof.

Hi Melanie - Mold about 2 miles down road from me so maybe I can be your first client ! .... loads of paperwork to back up where funds came from.

Will be in touch next week.

Thanks
Ian

Look forward to speaking to you next week then Ian.

Ian -- I am reliably informed that jaffa cakes go down well