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my ex husband, common law and i bought a home. he was removed thru a restraining order from the home four months after we moved in. Four years later i have to go to thru a consumer proposal. am i responsible for the home or are we jointly responsible for the debt. also he had a vehicle he totalled but my name was on the insurance, the insurance company is coming after me now…in my consumer proposal am i on the hook for his truck or a portion of his truck
Posted from: Alberta
Let’s deal with the home first. If you and your ex jointly signed on the mortgage you are considered to be jointly and severally liable for that debt. What this means is that you are both responsible that the debt gets paid in full.
The mistake most people make is they assume that means the debt is divided in 2 parts, you take one and your ex takes the other. But this isn’t the case. You are both responsible that the debt is paid in full. So if your ex doesn’t make payments for any reason (i.e. death, bankruptcy, they are unable to find him etc.) then the lender will look at you for payment of the debt in full. The opposite would also hold true (i.e. if the lender was unable to collect from you for any reason they would be able to collect the full balance from your ex).
This same principle would likely apply to the insurance company and the truck. If you were both on the policy then you are both jointly and severally liable for the outstanding amount.
Therefore, in a consumer proposal you would need to make sure you listed both the shortfall on the mortgage and the amount owing to the insurance company.