Mortgage repayment advice during divorce

J

JammyD

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I am seeking some advice or giudance if at all possible

Outstanding Mortgage €253,706
Property Value €330,000
LTV 75% (if I am calculating this correctly)
Remnaining Term €20 years
Interest Rate (variable) 4.6%
Monthly Repayments €1,571
BOI Mortgage (moved from KBC) Jointly held with hopefully soon to be ex spouse.

I am no longer living in the family home and have been paying €800.00 monthly towards mortgage since September but paid in full & on time to the exclusion of ex prior to this.
Ex Spouse (not yet divorced or judically separated as ex not engaging) pays in the region of €760.00 monthly, often late but usually within the month but there are current arrears of around that amount due to them missing a payment.
I cannot afford to pay in full and fund my own accommodation costs, I cannot live in the family home
If ex continues to default I will suffer negatively with CCR report
House wiill most likley be sold under terms of divorce but as ex not engaging this may take a billion years.

So to my questions:

How do I protect myself from negitave financial implications in the future?
Is there any way to lower the mortgage repayment amount so that I could potentially cover the full cost of mortgage & my own accommodation?
I did speak with MABS who essentiually said there is nothing I can do if EX not engaging but I am hopeful someone here may have been through similar and can offer advice/guidance or some steer on how to deal with this. I'm just trying to safeguard my own future financial stability. Ban are no help, simply telling me we are jointly and severally liable (which is understood)

Thanks in advance
 
How to lower what currently needs to be spent on mortgage? You could consider

Asking if the bank would allow a payment holiday on mortgage.

Switching to lower rate or another bank.

Verifying if you can extend the current term of the mortgage (e.g if due to past or current overpayments you are now set to repay it ahead of contractual term, you could reset payments to pay it back based on contract term.)
 
SPC100 said:
Asking if the bank would allow a payment holiday on mortgage.

Switching to lower rate or another bank.

Verifying if you can extend the current term of the mortgage (e.g if due to past or current overpayments you are now set to repay it ahead of contractual term, you could reset payments to pay it back based on contract term.)
Click to expand...
Need consent from both parties
 
JammyD said:
If ex continues to default I will suffer negatively with CCR report
Click to expand...

Hi Jammy

The first question is: What does your solicitor advise?

Is your CCR not already damaged if she has missed a payment?

So, first of all, get your CCR.

Are you in a position to buy a house yourself after you divorce?

If not, does it matter that much your CCR is damaged?

JammyD said:
House wiill most likley be sold under terms of divorce but as ex not engaging this may take a billion years.
Click to expand...

Have you children? If the ex is in the family home with children, then I doubt that that the house will be sold.

I presume you have moved out.

Assuming your CCR has been damaged and that you cannot borrow again, then maybe you should stop paying your share of the mortgage.
I don't think you get any benefit from it.

I would write a formal letter to your ex, or maybe get your solicitor to do so.
"I note you have not kept up your half of the repayments on the family home.
I have paid mine in full but now I see that my credit record has been destroyed by your failure to pay.
Pending a formal separation, I want your immediate agreement to sell the house and split the equity.
Failing this, I will stop paying the mortgage until the issue is resolved."

Brendan
 
If you are paying other maintainance values on top of your half of the mortgage I would stop that and pay the full mortgage. The arrears you mention are probably already effecting your CCR. Also . If you have children , particularly young children, assume you wont be able to sell the property until the youngest child is 23 or finished full time education
 
Thanks all,

To answer a few questions.

Ex has consistantly refused to engage in any way so restructuring the mortgage or entering into MARPS agreement just isn't an option.

Solicitor (as they always do) advises moving back into the home - I simply cannot do this, my mental health has suffered enormously from exes abuse over the past 5 years & I need to be out of that environment

I am in a position to buy ex out as part of divorce, or indeed right now (they had agreed to this but has now changed his mind) which is the main reason I am concerned about CCR. I could use some of these resources to pay the mortgage in full in the meantime but its not an infinate resource & the longer the ex gets free accommodation the less likley they are to engage in divorce.

18 year old in the family home, currently in leaving cert & ex is actively discouraging 3rd level, which means house can be sold, ex will not agree to this though so it would have to be court ordered.

I do pay a number of bills both on the property & for 18y/o but ex has never sought maintenance as this would mean providing financial information which they won't do (self employed).

I will stop paying property related expenses straight away and write to ex explaining what I am doing, will follow up with (another) solicitors letter.

Your advice is much appreciated

Thank you
JD
 
Your best bet is to sell the house and take your equity. By the time you get to court they'll be through LC.

If I were in your shoes I'd make the full mortgage payments (or at least as much as you can); keep your records - it will be taken into account when reckoning up on your share of the equity & possibly represents the best investment for you financially at present.

Your now adult child can attend University anywhere, don't have to live at home for that.
 
"Is your CCR not already damaged if she has missed a payment?"
Important to note that there is an assumption that the "female" at the home is the issue here. I'm sure it isn't intentional Brendan, but we could all remember that by now you could have any flavour of gender combinations on any side of the equation here.
 
I wanted to give an update in case anyone finds themselves in the same position & is searching in here for info.
Mortgage provider called to say there has been no payment from ex for April & account is slipping further into arrears. They were aware of the situation at least and have said they will note that the ex is to be contacted in the first instance in future.

The interesting part it is they said if he is persistent in refusing to engage that the bank can enter into a restructure with me only. I did not know this, everyone I have spoken to in the bank was adamant that the exes signature & financials would be required. I have asked that they send out the paperwork and I’ll consider my options.

Thanks all for your thoughts
JD
 
JammyD said:
The interesting part it is they said if he is persistent in refusing to engage that the bank can enter into a restructure with me only
Click to expand...
That is useful information.

Write to bank today summarising the conversation & make sure to include this.

Follow up again each month & ask for their timeline.
 
Just to add, I finally got a call from a Financial Advisor for a brief telephone consultation today.

They informed me that all mortgage providers definately have policies for circumstances such as mine, it may not be widely known, sometimes even by their own front line staff but they can and will deal with one party where the other is not engaging. The advisor was a former employee of my current mortgage provider coincidentially so I am inclined to believe it. Thinking on it this makes sense - get the full repayment from one party if you can but something from someone is better than nothing from no one I guess.

Anyway, this gives me some hope that if I continue to engage positively and proactively with my mortgage provider all is not lost... yet anyway.

I'll keep this thread updated as things progress as a potential source of information for others
 
Glad you have more information to take informed decision. Credit rating is important but keep paying for a house that you don't live and may not get to see any funds back from it in near future is another matter as other person not engaging. Bank may agree to take half of the mortgage from you (better than none for them), but what do you get ?

The person living in the house should worry more about the mortgage default. No? Separation / Divorce is damaging emotionally and financially and its up to you to decide if living separately is better than living together. Money in-hand will help you when things are settled and you have to rebuild your life. Renting for few years could be part of it if you don't get a mortgage because of bad rating.
 
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