Legals of a joint account after separation

geordie_ben

My friend and her boyfriend split up a month or so ago.

They used a joint account for bills and spending, both paying in equal amounts

After reviewing the account (all monies paid in against money spent by each) the ex boyfriend has spent £380+ of my friends money - can this be reclaimed in anyway?

The joint account is still open as they need to pay off the overdraft. He is still continuing to use the joint account for his own personal spending even after they have split, moved out and agreed to not use the bank account anymore - what can be done here?

Can something like this be sorted through the small claims court?

Any help would be great

ses6jwg

No it can't be reclaimed I suggest she set up a brand new account at a different bank and get a fresh start financially and then look to remove her name from, or close the joint account.

opinions4u

She should be able to tell the bank the account is in dispute.

If she does this, they should freeze the account. It will still be subject to interest and charges etc, but it will then give them an opportunity to work out how to clear the overdraft.

I don't see how her ex is doing anything legally wrong by taking funds out of an account with his name on. The moral position is clearly different.

geordie_ben

ses6jwg wrote: »

No it can't be reclaimed I suggest she set up a brand new account at a different bank and get a fresh start financially and then look to remove her name from, or close the joint account.

Any idea how she does about removing her name from the account?

onlypaddy

She can't remove her name until the overdraft is paid off. As someone has mentioned, all she can do to stop the ex spending on it is to place the account into dispute, which will freeze all incomings and outgoings.

zzzLazyDaisy

It needs the permission of both account holders to remove one person's name from the account - and while the account is in overdraft, I doubt that the ex will give permission.

Equally, because both names are on the account, all the funds belong to both of them. This means that he could stop paying money in, and take all the money out, and continue to run up an overdraft (as could she) and they would both be liable to the bank.

The solution is to inform the bank that the account is in dispute and ask for it to be frozen. Some banks are not particularly cooperative, and she could find that she needs a solicitor's letter to achieve this, but the first step is to aproach the bank. I would make an appointment and go in and see a bank manager, to discuss this face-to-face, they must see this all the time.

In the meantime she needs to open a separate account in her sole name for any bills/debts that are in her sole name, and stop paying into the account until it is frozen, so he can't keep taking it out again.

onlypaddy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

It needs the permission of both account holders to remove one person's name from the account - and while the account is in overdraft, I doubt that the ex will give permission.

it's not just a case of the ex's permission. The bank won't allow it, because the two parties are jointly and severally liable for the overdraft. If they remove one person from the account, then they lose one of their routes to recover the debt.

geordie_ben

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

It needs the permission of both account holders to remove one person's name from the account - and while the account is in overdraft, I doubt that the ex will give permission.

Equally, because both names are on the account, all the funds belong to both of them. This means that he could stop paying money in, and take all the money out, and continue to run up an overdraft (as could she) and they would both be liable to the bank.

The solution is to inform the bank that the account is in dispute and ask for it to be frozen. Some banks are not particularly cooperative, and she could find that she needs a solicitor's letter to achieve this, but the first step is to aproach the bank. I would make an appointment and go in and see a bank manager, to discuss this face-to-face, they must see this all the time.

In the meantime she needs to open a separate account in her sole name for any bills/debts that are in her sole name, and stop paying into the account until it is frozen, so he can't keep taking it out again.

Yeah I think a chat with the bank is the next step.

She's already set up a new account for all her bills and money.

Thanks for your help everyone

zzzLazyDaisy

onlypaddy wrote: »

it's not just a case of the ex's permission. The bank won't allow it, because the two parties are jointly and severally liable for the overdraft. If they remove one person from the account, then they lose one of their routes to recover the debt.

Yes you are absolutely right. I didn't make myself clear -

My point was that even if she were to clear the overdraft, she still can't close the account or remove her name without the other account holder's permission, and equally she can't stop him continuing to run up another overdraft for which she would also be jointly and severally liable. Hence the need to freeze the account.

geordie_ben

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Yes you are absolutely right. I didn't make myself clear -

My point was that even if she were to clear the overdraft, she still can't close the account or remove her name without the other account holder's permission, and equally she can't stop him continuing to run up another overdraft for which she would also be jointly and severally liable. Hence the need to freeze the account.

Just so I understand - can she put the account in dispute and freeze the account without his permission?

CLAPTON

the T&Cs of the account will probably deal with how to close the account or what to do if there is a dispute
they can often be downloaded form the bank's website.