Loss of family home if sued possible

godfather2

As above. If a person is sued and has no assets can the family home be touched if so in what circumstances
Civil tort actions etc

johnnyskeleton

Yes. In any circumstances. If someone owns a house and owes a debt a judgment mortgage can be registered against it.

I cant think of any reason why it wouldnt, save that if it is a family home of two people and only one is the debtor, the full amount of the property may not be available to the debtor.

Obviously if he is not the legal owner of the family home then no it cant e.g. a persons parents or spouse are not liable for their debts.

Odelay

Any links to where someone has actually lost their home?

godfather2

Can a sale be forced even if large mortgage kids etc in situ

johnnyskeleton

Odelay wrote: »

Any links to where someone has actually lost their home?

http://m.rte.ie/news/2015/1022/736814-gorse-hill-trespassing/

johnnyskeleton

godfather2 wrote: »

Can a sale be forced even if large mortgage kids etc in situ

Yes. The bank will have a first charge. If theres equity the property would be sold and the judgment paid out of it, wqith the remainder back to the debtor. Unless the children have a specific legal entitlement to the property then there is no impediment to the sale, any more than children are a reason for a tenant not to be evicted if they dont pay their rent.

godfather2

Was it not a case though that gorse hill was bought by a company. Thinking more along the lines of Mary and Joe mortgage three kids etc
One is sued, cases where family home was forced to be sold to cover cost
What if reasonable steps were taken to settle the debt etc but plaintiff wants money now
Blood from stone situation or kids sleep in car

johnnyskeleton

godfather2 wrote: »

Was it not a case though that gorse hill was bought by a company. Thinking more along the lines of Mary and Joe mortgage three kids etc
One is sued, cases where family home was forced to be sold to cover cost
What if reasonable steps were taken to settle the debt etc but plaintiff wants money now
Blood from stone situation or kids sleep in car

Well the law is the same. Maybe a judge or the debtor might exercise some sympathy.

GerardKeating

godfather2 wrote: »

Was it not a case though that gorse hill was bought by a company. Thinking more along the lines of Mary and Joe mortgage three kids etc
One is sued, cases where family home was forced to be sold to cover cost
What if reasonable steps were taken to settle the debt etc but plaintiff wants money now
Blood from stone situation or kids sleep in car

I thought the courts viewed the Company thing/Transfer to kids etc a form of debt evasion.

Peregrinus

If you have mortgaged your house to secure borrowings and you can't pay the borrowings then, yes, obviously, the bank can enforce its mortgage and get a court order to sell the house. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

But, if you haven't mortgaged your house, but you incur a large liability and get sued, is your house at risk? Yes, it is. If somebody gets judgment against you and you can't pay it, one of the options open to them to enforce their judgment is to register what's called a "judgment mortage" against property that you own. They then have the same rights that a bank would have if you had mortgaged the property - they can instituted court proceedings to have the house sold, and the proceeds paid to them. It's pretty rare, I think, for a judgment mortgage to be registered and enforced against a family home, but in principle there's no reason why it can't be done.

If you're in this situation, or think you soon will be, it may be a good idea to consider declaring bankuptcy. This puts the official assignee between you and your creditors, and ensures a more orderly process. But it won't, ultimately, prevent the sale of your house, if that's the only way to meet your obligations. The official assignee won't leave you sleeping in the gutter, but you may well have to move yourself and your family into, e.g., much smaller, rented accommodation.

If your house is jointly owned with spouse/partner, as many family homes are, but only one of the couple has incurred the debt/liablity, on the sale of the house only that persons' share of the net proceeds of sale is payable to creditors. The partner who is not in debt can't prevent the forced sale of the house, but they will get their share of the sale proceeds.

godfather2

ok one more hypothetical. only hypothetical so please don't close the thread for the question.

What happens in event of death.
Person against whom judgement would have been made dies from natural causes, accident, whatever reason can their spouse still lose the home if they died before judgement was made.

Person against whom judgement was made dies after it is determined they owe this amount in a claim. Can the surviving spouse lose the family home afterwards or do debts die with them unless they left a big pot of cash which could be tapped.
These are very depressing questions sorry. More interested in legal stand point, precedent etc in these types of cases.

nuac

Odelay wrote: »

Any links to where someone has actually lost their home?

Sadly, happens a lot.

E.g. Tony O'Reilly, Brian O'Donnell

The answer to this is complicated by the ownership of the home. It all depends on how the title is held

Mr. Incognito

godfather2 wrote: »

ok one more hypothetical. only hypothetical so please don't close the thread for the question.

What happens in event of death.
Person against whom judgement would have been made dies from natural causes, accident, whatever reason can their spouse still lose the home if they died before judgement was made.

Person against whom judgement was made dies after it is determined they owe this amount in a claim. Can the surviving spouse lose the family home afterwards or do debts die with them unless they left a big pot of cash which could be tapped.
These are very depressing questions sorry. More interested in legal stand point, precedent etc in these types of cases.

The debtor has two years from the date of debt to sue the estate. If judgement made against the estate they will be able to appropriate it out of the estate, if the home has to sold to meet this it is sold.

Section 117 of the land and conveyancing reform act is the applicable section for a court to direct a sale

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2009/act/27/section/117/enacted/en/html

Peregrinus

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

The debtor has two years from the date of debt to sue the estate. If judgement made against the estate they will be able to appropriate it out of the estate, if the home has to sold to meet this it is sold.

Section 117 of the land and conveyancing reform act is the applicable section for a court to direct a sale

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2009/act/27/section/117/enacted/en/html

But, if the family home is held on a joint tenancy by two spouses (which is common) and the debtor spouse is survived by the other spouse, the family home doesn't form part of the estate, does it? It goes straight to the other spouse.

I'm open to correction here, but I think if the home is held by the spouses as joint tenants, and the debtor spouse dies at any time before a judgment mortgage is registered, the home belongs absolutely to the surviving spouse and can't be taken (unless, of course, the surviving spouse is jointly liable for the judgment debt).

Peregrinus

Peregrinus wrote: »

But, if the family home is held on a joint tenancy by two spouses (which is common) and the debtor spouse is survived by the other spouse, the family home doesn't form part of the estate, does it? It goes straight to the other spouse.

I'm open to correction here, but I think if the home is held by the spouses as joint tenants, and the debtor spouse dies at any time before a judgment mortgage is registered, the home belongs absolutely to the surviving spouse and can't be taken (unless, of course, the surviving spouse is jointly liable for the judgment debt).

Death can extinguish a judgment mortgage also