Morgage debt please help advice needed?

I went through a divorce just recently & i've been apart from my ex wife for 2 years .I tried to sort things out with the house ,but my ex wouldn't let me sell the house , she then just vacated the property & i had to voluntary surrender it in the end.Now i've just had a letter through door from dlc debt company on behalf of GE Money stating that i owe them about �45,000 ,i thought the shortfall was only �27,000.how can i pay this i want ti sort it out ,but don't know how.Iwent the c.a.b. & spoke to them about it ,but this was before the house had been sold.They told me i'd probly have to go bankrupt ,witch i didn't want to do is there any other way around it. please help