Hi there, I'm from Northern Ireland and I expect to be made redundant in about six months time. The chances of me finding work here in my field are minimal, so my wife and I have made plans to emigrate to New Zealand, where my brother now lives, and where there is plenty of work. To that end, we have sold some assets we currently own and have realised about £28,000. We have had to use about £18,000 to repay our unsecured debts. The remaining £10,000 (and anything we can save over the next six months) will be used to pay an emigration specialist to process our residency application, pay for our flights (we have three children) and give us a deposit for a flat rental when we arrive. So when we arrive in NZ we will literally only have the clothes on our backs (and in our suitcases!). So we are currently debt free except for our house, which has an outstanding mortgage of £170,000, and therein lies the problem. The house is in serious negative equity (it would probably sell for about £110,000) and we won't be able to keep up mortgage payments on it and live in New Zealand - the interest payments are about £700 per month, and rates are about £50 - if we could rent it we would probably only get about £350 to £400 per month for it. In an ideal world we would like to do this: 1) Move to New Zealand and tell the bank that we want them to repossess our house. 2) I hold solid equity in my parents' home of about £25,000 - there is no mortgage on that property. It's a 20% share which can't be realised until my parents die and my siblings sell the house then. I would like to offer the bank that share. They obviously can't cash it in, but it is a solid asset which will grow because the market has bottomed out where my parents live. 3) I would also offer them £200 per month (about NZ$400) payable for 20 years, which would represent another £50,000 payment, bringing the total offer to the bank to £75,000 (I know there are interest and inflationary issues, but I'm just trying to work this out at the moment). I have checked the cost of living in NZ on my expected salary very carefully and it's the figure that keeps coming back. I feel really caught between a rock and a hard place. I'm worried that the bank will reject my proposal outright (it is very unorthodox) and demand that I pay up the full mortgage or they will force bankruptcy upon me. If they do that could I be open to a charge of asset disposal and fraud for spending the £10,000 on emigration advice, flights and set up costs to get to New Zealand? Do you think a UK judge would see forced bankruptcy in light of my offer to be harsh? Even if we stay in the UK we will be probably be forced to give up the house and go bankrupt eventually because if I have to sign on the dole I will barely be able to afford to pay them anything. Many thanks in advance for any help!