Hello. I own half a house in France which my ex husband (who owns the other half) refuses to sell or pay me my share. Meanwhile he lives there. We are both Scottish.

I live in Scotland and have run up debts of around £14,500 over the last 7 years as my ex has avoided paying any child support for our 4 kids. I don't want to go bankrupt in Scotland as it will badly affect my credit rating.

Does anyone know how I can go bankrupt in France? I am hoping the French Official Receiver will force my ex to either give me my 50% of the house (so I can pay off my creditors), or force him to sell it and I will get 50% of the proceeds, less what the Receiver takes.

Grateful for any information on this. Many thanks.

You're probably best off trying one of the sites specifically for ex-pats in France.

Hello. I own half a house in France which my ex husband (who owns the other half) refuses to sell or pay me my share. Meanwhile he lives there. We are both Scottish.

 

I live in Scotland and have run up debts of around £14,500 over the last 7 years as my ex has avoided paying any child support for our 4 kids. I don't want to go bankrupt in Scotland as it will badly affect my credit rating.

 

Does anyone know how I can go bankrupt in France? I am hoping the French Official Receiver will force my ex to either give me my 50% of the house (so I can pay off my creditors), or force him to sell it and I will get 50% of the proceeds, less what the Receiver takes.

 

 

Grateful for any information on this. Many thanks.

I don't think you can go bankrupt in France without it affecting you in Scotland. Within the EU, i think if you go bankrupt in one EU country, you have to go through your full finances in every country. Because you are resident in Scotland and appear to have not been a resident of France for more than 3 years, i think the only place you can declare bankruptcy is Scotland.

You need to seek advice from a Solicitor who knows law applying in Scotland and France. There might be other ways to get at the equity of the house in France, other than bankrupty. Perhaps going after the child support and getting a court order in Scotland, which you then transfer to a French court. If he then does not pay, there might be ways of forcing the sale of the house, but i have my doubts. The other possibility is the divorce financial settlement, to see what can be done.

Any option is going to take along time. It could take years, before any order was made for him to sell the house.

You best option might be to ask for advice about your Scotish debts to see what can be done about these. I think you need to do that first, with the house in France being a remote possibility, because it is unlikely a court would force a sale. If you what advice about debt in Scotland please ask and the site team will direct you. Or in Scotland there is a network of advice centres, where you can seek advice and they might know of Solicitors who can answer questions on EU wide laws that might help you.

Hello, Gigi

I suppose it comes down to where you were married, if married in Scotland, it's Scottish law, or married in France, French law. I don't know French law or Scottish law, but I do know that English law permits you certain property rights. In England/ Wales, for instance, you can force a sale if the property was jointly owned or force a sale in your own right if the family home were intended for the family. If it's France law, they should have a post divorce law that permits the French courts control the assets. There will be way to do something about this. Hope you find the solution you need.

why havent you used divorce proceedings and the family court to force hubby to pay up or get out? Generally when there are children the courts dont close off any financial ties until they reach the age of majority so I would have a chat with a divorce lawyer about what you can do via your case. You may be able to enforce a lump sum settlemt of overdue maintenance payments as well.