Husband has left me to pay all joint debts.

lin_scam

I am looking for some advice.
My husband has left after running up huge debts, some in my name and some in joint.
I have been struggling to pay these on a debt management plan and as you would expect the creditors are only interested in me as I am paying. He says he would pay but he hasn't got a job. It has been 2 years and I believe he is working. Is there any way I can prove he has got an income and go after him for the money he owes.
The flat was mine before he moved in but now in joint names and negative equity.
I really need to take hime to court to make him pay but there is no point if he really isn't earning.
Is there any way to prove he has an income?? A lawyer told be to hire a detective (he is at other end of the country) but I can't afford to do that. My new partner works in benefits and could easily look his income up but it could cast his job. Isn't here any legal way to find out the income of someone who owes me money (and is still married to me). I have had to prove my income to the debtors but they are not even asking him. Do tehy not have an obligation to chase him for money when they are on a reduced payment from me??

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Lin.

Plans_all_plans

I've no experience of this, so this may not be a sensible thing to do at all: but what would happen if you just stopped paying the debts? Would your creditors start to be more proactive in chasing him? Or would it just result in you getting into even more of a mess?

I wouldn't advocate your new b/f looking up his details at all, nor would I really want to pay out for a detective.

I'd also post this on the Debt Free Wannabe board on here, as there are bound to be people on there able to advise you.

Hobo17

I doubt there is much you can do legally about the ones in your name only. However I would be inclined to write to the collection agencies for the joint debts, remind them that he is a joint holder on the account and suggest that they contact him in order to contribute towards repayment. State that you believe he is working, and give them his address and phone number. Do they know you are no longer together? It might be worth including this in the letter also so that he cannot make any changes to the accounts without your permission. Unfortunately they do seem to chase the person who is most able to pay and leave the other alone with joint debts.

Who is your debt management program through (or did you arrange it yourself?), do they have any advice?

BitterAndTwisted

Actually, I would say the opposite: I think the OP has much more recourse for the debts run up in her name only. Running up debts is someone else's name is fraud even if the parties are married.

Hobo17

Ah - if he took the cards and used them without her knowing then you are of course correct, and that would probably be a police matter. I assumed that they were used with her knowledge.

reddevilkay

I feel so sorry for you - I'm going through something very similar - when I left my husband, he had signed a piece of paper saying that he owes me £20k, but the lawyers said that they cannot force someone to find money they don't have. I had £12k worth of credit card debt which were his debts, but as they were in my name only, I had to pay them. Then after I paid them all off, I found out that he had created a £6.5k debt on our joint account that I was trying to remove myself from!

I was also assuming that she knew he was using your credit cards, if he used them behind your back then that is surely theft?

I just can't believe that there aren't more laws around to protect people like us...why should we have to suffer just because we got together with the wrong person???

Really sorry that I don't have a lot of advice as you already seem to have had legal advice, will let you know if I think of something or something actually works in my favour for once!

Fiddlestick

lin_scam wrote: »

My new partner works in benefits and could easily look his income up but it could cast his job.

Not could, it *will*.

Everything is logged and he will need to have a valid reason to look him up.

It's just not worth it.

kelloggs36

Many years ago (about 20 in fact) I was in the same situation as the OP - I contacted the loan company about the loan we had in joint names and managed to negotiate paying only half even though the loan was a joint one. They agreed and chased him for the other half - you have nothing to lose by trying this - you may have to be very persuasive as they aren't likely to agree straight away. Certainly give them his details as they should be chasing him anyway as it is a joint and several liability.