Bankruptcy option for irish family

[SDD22]

Hi,
We are a couple with 2 young kids ( 3 and 7 yo) living in Ireland. Like many others, we bought a house at the wrong time. We were both employed at the time and managed ok. I lost my job in 2009, and after an unsuccessful try at starting my own consulting business, I stayed at home and had our second child. I have not been able to find suitable work since. We have used all our savings and can no longer cope with our large mortgage. We are in negative equity at around 150k. I also have a 15k student loan in New Zealand. We have no other debts.
We are stuck ! I am thinking about going the bankruptcy way.
We are also thinking about going to Australia (we both have dual passports)
do we need to both declare bankruptcy?
If we do the UK thing, can my husband still keep his job in Ireland?
thank you for your advice.

 

[cl061969]

Hey There

I'm not an expert in bankruptcy, but in days of old, especially London in years gone by, people in your situation simply handed their house keys in at the bank. If you are going the bankruptcy route, or thinking about applying for bankruptcy, and if you only have the house to lose, why bother? Just advise the bank that you can't manage the repayments, and let them repossess. If you guys have passports to Australia and there's no difficulty bringing in the children, can't see what the problem is. You will be logged for 7 years, but as you won't be here or in Europe, it doesn't seem it will be a problem. Either way, it looks like you guys have lost your property, so repossession is on the cards anyway. If you can't avoid it, just inform the bank and do it amicably before you leave. It doesn't appear that you have anything to gain by going the bankruptcy route. But again, I'm not an expert.