Hiya,

my ex left me with dept up to my eyeballs thanks to her leagl team. I have now been railroaded by her lawyer and the judge to accept a "clean break" agreement, which is against my better judgement but i fear further debt from a costs award against me.

I am trying to avoid personal bankruptcy.

I still owe money to keep the wolves at bay in the short term.......my question is as follows:

After a clean break agreement, am i able to take my ex wife to small claims court for monies which she has admitted to owing by e-mail, and phone bills which i can prove have nothing to do with me?

It will vome to no more than 4-5K, but will assist greatly in taking off the heat and buying a little time.

Any advice will assist!

IF you are not happy wwith the terms of the CO then dont sign until you are.....

I think the situation is that Courts view debts (occuring through marriage) a JOINT responsibility; regardless of who clocked-up the debt. Therefore; the person they deem can repay them; is the person responsible.

My friends husband recently disclosed he owed £22,000 to five different credit card companies. My friend is jointly liable; she is the bread-winner; they're still married but she resents repaying his debts.

They spent four months trying to resolve the problem (Bank would not extend their mortgage to cover) Credit Crunch meant they couldn't borrow more. However, having attempted to resolve the issue; they consolidated the Debts; and their bank has agreed to halve it to £11,000. (They've done this as a good-will gesture; rather than re-claiming their house; because they were deemed attempting to rectify the problem)

My brother owed more than £5,000 on Credit Cards; he had an order to repay at around £5 a week. He came into some money; and offered them £1,000 to clear his debt - and they accepted! (It costs them more to issue the paperwork usually)

You might find you can reduce these debts by negotiating directly with the companies involved; rather than tackling your ex.

The judge told me that I may pursue part of my claim "elsewhere" (meaning through Commercial Litigation). I am seeing a Barrister whom I have sought through Direct Access; who will look at my Case and hopefully suggest the best route.

My ex came up with proposals that I have not (yet) accepted. This included that I waivered all rights to pursue through further Litigation. I'm not signing anything until I'm at least informed.

I'm following your posts because I'm self-repping also. I get that you feel SHAFTED by the system. Not fair.

Just to add to the last - my ex ran up £20,000 debt which I discovered and it led to the break-up. By the time the divorce came, he'd racked up £50,000 on credit cards and he finally admitted that they were nothing to do with me - but it could have so easily been taken to be a joint debt! No-one told me that all this is taken into account at the time of the settlement (as he'd moved out 4 years before) so I knew nothing of his spending. I foolishly thought that once he'd gone, it was nothing to do with me!!! Be very careful.