Hi all - the following requires a mixture of family law, property law and bankruptcy law knowledge.
Background...After many years of hell, I finally left my abusive partner only to discover he had racked up significant debts from gambling and drug use. The debts he amassed were mostly post-separation and in the business to which he was the sole director. I was not a director, shareholder, nothing. My only mistake was to have initially provided financial assistance for him to purchase the business and stupidly be his de facto. He refused to provide full financial disclosure and hence the settlement took over 18months to finally achieve sealed consent orders. In these orders, I have accepted (despite it being ridiculously unfair) to pay a proportion of his debts to get rid of him. The financial agreement includes me paying some of his specified debts, taking over the mortgage in my name only and paying him a settlement cash amount, but I keep the house.
This week we were to finally achieve settlement, however, on the day of settlement I discovered a caveat has been placed on the house we both shared prior to separation. I had no notice of this and the bank on my loan application obviously found nothing either when they did the title search. His defaulted loans, as far as I can tell (which is difficult when he refuses to provide full disclosure), are in the company name and not his. My plan is to attempt to determine if the caveat is legitimate (ie. he hasn't stupidly guaranteed our house) and work out who's name the debt is in - the business or his personal name. My questions are:
a) If he has been so stupid (entirely possible) to provide our house as collateral to secure the loans he is defaulting on, can this be done without my knowledge when I am a duel titleholder? I did not sign any documents for any such loans (but I also wouldn't put fraud past him).
b)If the loans are in the company name, not his personal name, is there any way the caveat can be placed on the house? (I have no doubt he has mixed business and personal money from what I can see in the bank accounts I have managed to get hold of)
c) What can I possibly do to make the caveat go away with the least cost and most speed so I can achieve settlement? I understand I can lodge a lapsing notice, wait 21 days and hope the debt recovery doesn't argue/ have a case. My guess is they are trying to apply pressure illegitimately and hope it works (don't get me wrong, he should repay the money, but I don't see how I should be penalised). Yet again though, I bare the brunt of the costs for something entirely out of my control as he has no money or inclination to fix this mess.
d) If the caveator is found to have a legitimate claim, is it possible for the sealed consent orders to be altered without it going back to the registrar (as this will take more time and cost) so that the cash amount I was to provide him actually pays out the debt that has resulted in the caveat. My only hesitation with this is it may stop this caveat, but in the meantime more may appear.
Please point me in the right direction. I have a lawyer but her specialisation is family law. She openly said that she does not have expertise in the bankruptcy/property law side of things and I am fast running out of money (and sanity) to fight this.
Background...After many years of hell, I finally left my abusive partner only to discover he had racked up significant debts from gambling and drug use. The debts he amassed were mostly post-separation and in the business to which he was the sole director. I was not a director, shareholder, nothing. My only mistake was to have initially provided financial assistance for him to purchase the business and stupidly be his de facto. He refused to provide full financial disclosure and hence the settlement took over 18months to finally achieve sealed consent orders. In these orders, I have accepted (despite it being ridiculously unfair) to pay a proportion of his debts to get rid of him. The financial agreement includes me paying some of his specified debts, taking over the mortgage in my name only and paying him a settlement cash amount, but I keep the house.
This week we were to finally achieve settlement, however, on the day of settlement I discovered a caveat has been placed on the house we both shared prior to separation. I had no notice of this and the bank on my loan application obviously found nothing either when they did the title search. His defaulted loans, as far as I can tell (which is difficult when he refuses to provide full disclosure), are in the company name and not his. My plan is to attempt to determine if the caveat is legitimate (ie. he hasn't stupidly guaranteed our house) and work out who's name the debt is in - the business or his personal name. My questions are:
a) If he has been so stupid (entirely possible) to provide our house as collateral to secure the loans he is defaulting on, can this be done without my knowledge when I am a duel titleholder? I did not sign any documents for any such loans (but I also wouldn't put fraud past him).
b)If the loans are in the company name, not his personal name, is there any way the caveat can be placed on the house? (I have no doubt he has mixed business and personal money from what I can see in the bank accounts I have managed to get hold of)
c) What can I possibly do to make the caveat go away with the least cost and most speed so I can achieve settlement? I understand I can lodge a lapsing notice, wait 21 days and hope the debt recovery doesn't argue/ have a case. My guess is they are trying to apply pressure illegitimately and hope it works (don't get me wrong, he should repay the money, but I don't see how I should be penalised). Yet again though, I bare the brunt of the costs for something entirely out of my control as he has no money or inclination to fix this mess.
d) If the caveator is found to have a legitimate claim, is it possible for the sealed consent orders to be altered without it going back to the registrar (as this will take more time and cost) so that the cash amount I was to provide him actually pays out the debt that has resulted in the caveat. My only hesitation with this is it may stop this caveat, but in the meantime more may appear.
Please point me in the right direction. I have a lawyer but her specialisation is family law. She openly said that she does not have expertise in the bankruptcy/property law side of things and I am fast running out of money (and sanity) to fight this.
