income tax problem

[glavva]

hi, my daughter has been seperated from her husband for about a year but is not yet divorced, they sold the house and both ended up with about �60000 each . the husband has managed to spend most of his share. inland revenue have now got a judgement against him for about �40000 which he does not have , they are threatening to make him bankrupt, my question is can they go after my daughters share of the money from the house to pay his personal tax debt ? thanks

[Skyline D]

Don't see how. If she got the money as her share of a legal separation and the debt is nothing to do with her then I can't see any way the Revenue could (or would) attempt to get repayment from your daughter.

[themas]

It is very unlikely that the Official Receiver (OR) would go after her share, but there have been one or two odd Court cases where it was decided that decisions of Divorce Courts on split of matrimonial assets did not necessarily have to be followed if one of the parties became bankrupt. However, I think (but am not certain) that the main case on this was overturned on appeal.

The above relates to cases where the Court had made (or approved) a financial settlement in divorce. Your daughter is not in this situation, unless the financial settlement in the separation was a Court approved or fixed one. If it was not (i.e. it was a voluntary agreement) then the OR might want to look at the position to see whether there was collusion to put assets beyond the reach of his creditors, or whether the settlement was unreasonably balanced towards your daughter. For example, if he had paid the deposit and all the mortgage there might be an argument that she should not have had half the equity.

This can become very complex and there is no certainty the OR would do anything but - if such a situation arises - your daughter will probably need advice from an expert Insolvency Practitioner.

[glavva]

Thanks very much for your reply , i thought i had seen something like that in the newspaper, we will go and get some legal advice as my son in law did pay the deposit and the repayments for the house and the settlement to my daughter was not done in court . thanks again .