Married couple, individual debts

justontime

I am sorry if this is the wrong place (perhaps someone can move it if necessary). I hope to become completely debt free but having read other threads I have some concerns about responsibility for debts of a husband or wife.

In this case the wife has the mortgage in her sole name, it was taken out prior to the marriage and has 6 years to run. Husband has a bank account and overdraft and credit card both with same bank, he pays a mobile phone contract from his account, but that is all. Wife has a bank account (and unused overdraft facility) a savings account and credit card (well managed) with same bank as husband uses, all household bills are met from that account. All utility/houshold bills and insurances are in wife's name only, car is owned outright by wife. Husband pays a sum from his account to hers monthly as his contribution. The only financial link they had was when he was an additional cardholder on a credit card in wife's name, but this account is now closed.

Wife has just found that he has exceeded his overdraft and has ben having problems for several months. What responsibility does each have for the others debts? and if the marriage ended would each be liable for the other person's debts

Britwife

To me, marriage is a team and it takes both of you to run that team. Whoever of you exceeded their overdraft needs to talk to the other asap and should have been communicating well before this happened.

This is a good reason to pool all money into joint accounts so both can keep track.

I feel it's both of your responsibility to take care of. I don't know how things work over here but in the states, all assets are typically split in half but I'm pretty sure you're only responsible for debts in your own name.

I take it you are the wife if this is upsetting enough to ask about divorce and responsibiltiy. This doesn't have to be the end of your marriage, you guys just need to communicate and both make sure that that door is always open. Remember.....for better of for worse.

When you have individual accounts, there is a lot of room for keeping secrets and it causes the door to communication to close.

If you insist on keeping separate accounts then get a log book for each account and then each person can log what is coming in and what is going out. If they are buying you a gift then they can just put gift and leave the amount out until after it's given. You should both look at the statements when they come in. I'm only suggesting this to you guys becasue your trust has been broken.

I hope you guys can get through this.

fatbelly

justontime wrote: »

What responsibility does each have for the others debts? and if the marriage ended would each be liable for the other person's debts

You're asking questions from a legal standpoint. The answers are none and no respectively.

As things stand you should not be linked (associated) by the credit reference agencies. Best keep it that way until and unless you both become debt free. Do not take out a joint account

Ames

I have to disagree Britwife, I think this situation shows exactly why it's not good to have joint accounts, it just means that one drags the other one down (credit rating wise) which causes big problems, in this case it would mean a worse mortgage rate when it comes for renewal. Why weaken the partnership further.

justontime

Thank you. I was asking from a legal standpoint rather than asking for moral advice, but I appreciate anyone taking the time to respond. There is good reason for keeping things in individual names. This is a second marriage where wife was previously widowed and the children of the first marriage have to be protected as there is no other provider for them. Husband has a CSA case with no arrears, but arrears can happen because reassessments and reviews take months (the last one took 11 months) then suddenly you have a year's worth of arrears sprung on you. Of course husband should pay to support his children, but the unpredictable aspect is worrying and wife does not want to feel that CSA could get their hands on her money/assets if something unthinkable went wrong.

Britwife

Ames wrote: »

I have to disagree Britwife, I think this situation shows exactly why it's not good to have joint accounts, it just means that one drags the other one down (credit rating wise) which causes big problems, in this case it would mean a worse mortgage rate when it comes for renewal. Why weaken the partnership further.

I'd like to see how my spouse is dragging me down. Our debts are paid and we discuss large purchases. We also have great credit. All that is because we keep our money jointly and work together as a married couple. If anything, we boost each other UP. There is nothing weak about our marriage finances at all.

The way you look at marriage is that at some point it's going to fail so I better be prepared.

Ames

I'm not talking about you Britwife, I'm talking about the op. If one partner has a good credit rating and the other has a poor rating then it makes sense to preserve the good rating. Surely one good rating and one poor is better than two poor?

I don't know how you know about my ideas about marriage since I've never posted them on here.

justontime

Britwife, Ames did not say that your spouse was dragging you down, he/she was responding to the situation in the original post (about one person's debt dragging the other person's credit rating down). It was a valid observation about a specific situation and absolutely not a criticism of the way you conduct your life. It is great that things are working well for you, but people and circumstances are different and what is good for one situation does not necessarily suit another. Ames gave a factual respone to a question that asked for factual/legal information.

Bunnyinthelights

For my personal point of view-(and I am in debt, on DMP, DH is NOT in debt) we keep things seperate. Totally.

This way, my credit rating does not affect DH and he has the mortgage in his name etc. As we are married, we still discuss financial situations etc and work together to support the family but this way at least one of us doesnt have crap credit. It works for us but it has taken a while.

Britwife

Ames, my apologies, I think I read that the wrong way which obviously scratches out my last comment.

I think I'm going to stop commenting on single and joint. It's not worth getting upset over as I do understand that some have been burned badly in the past.

So I'm going to agree to disagree ; )

vaporate

Why bother with joint accounts. It can only lead to trouble.

It is in the banks interest because they have 2 ppl liable for any debt, one is bound to cough up the dough.