Joint mortgage question

[stillatwork]

I'm new here so wasn't sure if this would need to go here or on the finances bit, so hope someone can help. I've got a joint mortgage with my husband and although we're still married, we've lived apart for 3 years. He's been paying me maintenance (agreed between ourselves, not through court) which covers his half of the mortgage and some extra for the children. He's now terminally ill and doesn't have very long to live. Because he had an existing medical condition, he couldn't get life insurance when we took out the mortgage. Does anyone know what will happen when he dies? I'm not sure whether I'll inherit his half of the equity in the house along with his half of the mortgage to pay or whether the building society can force me to pay his debt. He took early retirement from his job last year and has spent the settlement he got so I won't receive a lump sum from anywhere. Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks.

[dundurn]

I'm very sorry, but as far as the lender is concerned there is a single loan and they look to both or either of you to repay it. On your husband's death the property will pass to you as will the responsibility for the loan repayments. It would be worthwhile contacting the lender as soon as possible to make them aware of the situation. They ARE human. I work for one of the biggest, and we do bend over backwards in genuine cases to keep people in their homes and make what arrangements we can to minimise the hardship. Unfortunately, our first responsibility is to make a profit and pay our investors and shareholders their interest and dividends, so we can't write off debts, much as we'd sometimes like to. What you mustn't do is leave the lender in the dark. Going into arrears without any explanation just means that eventually they'll run up a legal bill which they'll expect you to pay as well.