Application for assistance rejected due to excessive assets

Questioner

I applied for social assistance and it has now been rejected because according to them I have too many assets/too few debts. They value my car at over 9000 euros via an internet site while if I have it valued by an official person myself, it will be valued a few thousand euros less. At that time I had a debt of over 30,000 euros with my ex-partner and they also neatly drew up and signed a document stating that I would pay her back 500 euros per month and otherwise wage garnishment etc. could be applied. This debt was made up of various debts with, among other things, housing, car financing etc. she took over for me so that the costs would not increase any further. Now the benefits agency says that this debt that I now have with her does not count because it is not in my name, for example. Can you help me?

Lawyer

Municipalities do indeed apply maximum values ​​for releasing ownership of a car up to a certain amount. Perhaps you can prove that you are internally liable for the debts that arose during the cohabitation, because in the other case you were favored and you should have reported this to the tax authorities as a gift to you. Were the outstanding debts previously in both your names?