Debt and divorce

Honest advice required please:

My wife and I have a total of £26,000 of debt or there abouts including a personal loan we bought a car with. As part of our divorce we are looking to consolidate the debt into our mortgage as we can''t afford the debt repayments anymore because of our separation.

We currently share the costs for the debt 50 / 50. My wife has decided that she doesn''t wish to include the personal loan in the debt consolidation and I agreed to this as I was under the impression we would continue to pay the cost of the loan 50 / 50 until it was paid off.

However, it now transpires that she does not intend to pay the personal loan at all. This would mean the £16,000 loan would pay off her £3000 overdraft, her Next account, £2000 to her parents for HER court fees and then the credit cards. She would be £213 a month better off while I would have £8,000 of debt left in my name and because I am having to pay the whole loan itself would be £10 a month worse off - doesn''t sound like much but when you are skint it is. Claire would be debt free. Her argument is that I should then sell the car and buy a cheap piece of crap.

The more I think about it the more I think it is a crap deal and I should tell her to shove it and we either borrow enough to pay off the debt or we just carry on as we are and sink. Add also into the mix that she is staying in the house on a 60/40 split with me paying half the mortgage with all the furniture and £50,000 of home improvements we paid for with inheritance from my grandmother.

Should I just suck up the offer or am I being screwed?

This is not an easy question to answer, and I suppose I should start by asking whether you have a Court order as yet,

There are a number of points that you need to keep in mind.

1. The most important issue is usually where the spouses are going to live. It is unfortunately often the case that divorce brings in its wake a diminution in lifestyle and the trick is to make sure you have a roof over your head and to try and make sure that the reduction is evenly spread.
2. The existence of dependent children, if there are any, can often be a matter of critical importance.
3. When it comes to debts, you will probably do well to ask as a first step who is legally liable - you, your wife, or both of you. If the debt is taken out for an item or commodity which only benefits one spouse then it is reasonably fair that the spouse who gets the benefit should be responsible for the debt. If the item is for the common weal both should expect to take responsibility for it.
4. You need to try and work out some sort of idea of what your finances will look like after divorce. Itmay well be that you will need to try and workout and agree some repayment plan with your creditors.

I know this is not too helpful to you right now. If you think there is a possibility of bankruptcy then you need some decent legal advice pronto.

You may be interested to know that amongst my ither accomplishments I am a church organist and earlier today I was blasting out the wedding march and privately said one prayer not on the sheet - that neither of these two good people will ever need me in any capacity other than an organist.

LMM