re northern rock shortfall

in 1996 myself and then partner purchased a house for £50,000 with mortgage from northern rock.in 1998 my now ex partner (joint mortgagee) was arrested on attempted murder charges of myself and daughter, he was subject to a criminal trial and obviously i then had injuction served on him.with three children to support my business suffered and i fell into arrears, after constantly keeping the northern rock informed i put the house on the market for £65,000 as it had been extended. and out of three valuations this was the lowest one for a quick sale. my ex tried to stop me selling as he hadnt given his permission, as he wasnt contributing to the mortgage nor working at the time, i asked the court to force him to sell. they did but it delayed it by 3 months, i changed my estate agents who marketed it for £56,000 sadly this all took too long and the northern rock said they would repossess if i could not pay. i spoke to a lady in the arrears dept. who told me not to worry if they repossessed my house as it would be marketed at full value for first few months and as full value was £15,000 more than i owed and it was is very sought after area i would be left with no shortfall. how wrong, i handed my keys back in september before the repossession in oct.and gave them a forwarding address. to my suprise in oct a notice was put in the local paper saying it was a two bedroomed terrace, it was in fact a 4 bedroom cottage with extensive open aspects, this was not mentioned, and asked for offers over £38,000 the week after a notice went in same paper saying an offer of £37,000 had been accepted!! i tried to get on with my life and as the impending crown court trial was looming tried to forget about it, until january this year, when i recieved a threatening letter from a solicitors claiming i owed them nearly £13,000.. i sent back the statement of earnings form unwittingly! offering them £50 a month this i paid for 4 months, then i wrote to them stating that i thought the northern rock did not act in my best interest to obtain best price, there were also rumours that they sold to a builder relative of the estate agents who dealt with the sale. isnt that illegal? i have tried to find a solicitor to deal with my shortfall but to no avail. i do not want to go bankcrupt, i wrote giving all info i could on whereabouts of my ex, as he escaped jail on a technicality, and shirked all his responsibilities and was in a better position to pay. they said that i was obligated to pay full amount. i felt totally intimidated up until finding this site today, i recieved a letter saying they are applying to make me bankrupt as i have stopped paying. the problem is i dont know where to start. any advice from people who have done this would be appreciated, the only good thing is that ive just realised how many people are in the same situation as me and im not a leper!!

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