can anyone help

Can anyone help me with a serious concern I have: I had a messy divorce two years ago and seven months later my X left with our daughter, over half of the money made from the sale of the house, a years maintenance and moved 450 km away to the other side of Andalucia. Anyway, without boring you all with the details of the ongoings since then, I am now being threatened with legal action if I do not resume maintenance payments. I have told her in writing that I will send payments owed as soon as I am physically able although as I am not in employment this will be atleast a year as my money is invested in a propertry I purchased as a reformation project after our separation. My concern is that she may try to force, through the courts, seizure of assets (which I have very few), and in particular the property I now own. Would she be able to do this considering that neither of us are paying tax as have not had employment in our years of living in Spain, our daughter was born in the UK, and the mother is Bulgarian with both UK and Bulgarian passports, and Spanish residency? I have explained to her that I currently have less than 1000 euros cash to my name, all of which and a lot more is needed to complete the reformation project I now own and will be used to pay any outstanding debt I owe her upon sale after completion. She is adamant that I must pay her now or face the concequences through the courts when she commences action on the 8th of January and pick up the legal costs too. I am struggling to keep my head above water now, and sadly have not been able too afford the cost of seeing my daughter for xmas, so am a bit annoyed at being threatened with legal action and costs, which will mean even less money I am able to put towards the cost of living now and make a return on the investement I made 16months ago, especially after she recently had enough money to travel to the USA for a Mexican rivierra cruise, and made me travel 900km at my own cost to collect our daughter who was told to go and stay with Daddy whilst she has been chasing the American dream!

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Its a tough one and I feel for you. It would depend on the terms and clauses of the divorce agreement but you can also go to ocourt and ask for a reduction of the maintenance on the basis you have no money and are basically unemployed. Yes they can seize the assets but thats not definate and in anycase they would be sold and once outstanding monies and fees are paid off you would receive the balance.

You need legal advice from a lawyer who knows about these things and who can look at the whole case

Good luck

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Certainly it is not an easy one and unfortunately she has many chances...

In any case there are ways for one to declare himself bankrupt in Court, freezing all assets and therefore gaining some time to recover, as the legal process would take a while in any case.

What area do you live in? If we can help, please contact us.

Good luck

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The area in which I live is Albanchez, near Albox in the Almeria region. Although I own a property there it is in the process of being reformed by myself (I do not have the cash to pay for a labourer), this was in the process of being listed as a ruin when I purchased it, and the town hall only informed me after I had submitted my application for an obra, by which time I was the owner! I have managed to get a partial lifting of the building restrictions placed on this house classifying it as a ruin through lots of mediation with the mayor and architect, although the work I am undertaking is far from completion. If the courts were to seize the property as an asset to pay any debts owed to my X it would be unlikely to reach a sale figuer anywhere near that of which I paid due to its current state and having a classification of a ruin still over it. Although I am confident that if I am left to finish the structural work I am currently undertaking, I will manage to get this house reassesd by the architect and have its ruin status lifted as not only have I managed to underpin most of the walls, but a huge retaining wall has been built by the town hall to support the hill on which the property stands since I started the project. Anyway the point to where all of this leads is that if I am allowed by the courts to continue in my current plan, I will eventually have a property that will be worth much more than is currently and will provide enough return on sale to settle my maintenance payments and also alow me to move onto the next stage of the property (the entire property is very large and I had the escritura split into two for sepperate dwellings that can be sold individually). Would the courts see the sense of allowing me to complete what I have started; I would be more than willing to sign a legally binding agreement to confirm that I will give my X all money I owe upon sale. Also would they take a sypathetic approach to any judgements on myself considering that I am currently living with my fiancee who is six months pregnant with our son, has her own buisness here for which she pays tax, and will be helping me with the financial cost of completing the build. We plan to marry asap, but as with so many other things in life the costs have been holding us back. If I were to declare myself bankrupt wouln´t the courts seieze all my assets anyway? Or could I simply sign the propety over to someone else to protect it? Thank you very much for your response to my original plea for advise, I am extremely gratefull for any further advise you can give me here. Best regards Ash Corby

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