You are a fool if you have a joint bank account.

tomatoe_2

Well I'm pleased this thread is going well now with some interesting views. It was hard to get going as a couple of ne'er-do-wells tried to derail it but luckily you fine people saw right past them.
Good work.

rlc22

I know of someone whose husband was taken ill 4 weeks ago and is still in hospital unconscious. They have separate bank accounts and she has no income.

Because his account is separate she doesn't have any access to any money and on top of the stress of having a seriously ill husband, she's also got to try and work out how to pay the mortgage and other bills while looking after their children.

She can apply through the courts to be able to manage his accounts, but it can take up to 5 months.

How can joint accounts be a bad thing when they prevent people being in situations like this?

tomatoe_2

rlc22 wrote: »

How can joint accounts be a bad thing when they prevent people being in situations like this?

To be fair, that is a very very rare situation. 4 weeks of being unconscious is rare. I don't know anyone who has been unconscious for even a day. He may never regain it and die, its quite likely.
I doubt he will work again for a couple of years if atall.
She may have to not rely on his income anymore. very sad.

vroombroom

tomatoe wrote: »

To be fair, that is a very very rare situation. 4 weeks of being unconscious is rare. I don't know anyone who has been unconscious for even a day. He may never regain it and die, its quite likely.
I doubt he will work again for a couple of years if atall.
She may have to not rely on his income anymore. very sad.

gosh you're a ray of sunshine eh?

Tropez

My partner and I have a joint account solely for bills and we worked out an amount each to pay in each month to cover all the bills with a little leeway for any particularly expensive month. Anything that's left over just gets put aside for contributing towards a holiday.

Other than that we have separate finances and it works fine for us.

FATBALLZ

margaretclare wrote: »

Some years ago I suspect he would have agreed with you. However, one day I came home from CAB where I'd just seen a harrowing example of what can happen if there isn't a joint account in place. A lady had been widowed - the generation in which it was common for the man to take care of anything while she was given housekeeping money. The man's estate was going through probate and in the meantime, she had only her state pension i.e. 60% of what he'd got, and final demands from all the utilities were dropping through her letter-box. She'd never paid a bill in her married life, had no idea about insurances, any of the financial basics. She was distraught, as if widowhood isn't bad enough in itself.

Unfortunately somebody so financially ignorant was always going to suffer when the 'organiser' was no longer there. Joint accounts aren't a solution to financial ignorance.

If I died my partner would get a 6-figure payout so not having access to a months worth of bill money wouldn't really be an issue.

Wirenth

It took me 13 years to completely segregate my mother's financial affairs from my father's, once they separated. The joint bank accounts were an absolute bloody nightmare to separate. And they weren't trying to screw each other over. I'd never have one. Ever.

Also, just because you don't share a bank account (or even if you do!) doesn't mean that each partner shouldn't contribute in some way.

neverdespairgirl

I think "fool" is a bit strong. It works for some people, others choose to arrange their affairs differently.

OH and I have separate bank accounts, which works for us. We are both self-employed, and it makes our financial affairs easier to manage.

In fact, I spend most of the money - I pay for our childcare, rent, now the mortgage, and the bills go out of my account. So when I need more, I ask OH and he sends some over.

Wouldn't work for everyone, works for us fine.

My parents have, and always have had, a joint account. My Dad earns almost all the money, my mother spends almost all of it - she pays all the household bills, cars, food shopping, and even buys most of my Dad's clothes. That has worked perfectly for them since 1974 (-:

make_me_wise

tomatoe wrote: »

They should be made illegal.

How many tales of woe have I read here of a breakup and then the other partner runs up huge debts and cleans out the account? HUNDREDS and still they come.....

I would not allow anyone access to my money willy nilly and I see it as just laziness, ignorance or financial naievety that people cannot run their lives using a bank account each and decide which bills each will pay from their own account.

When you break up and get fleeced by the other half, remember you read this post and chose to ignore it and not set up your own account. :rotfl::beer:

Has another relationship not worked out dear and you've been fleeced to the hilt. Cant wonder why anyone would not want to spend their life with a balanced, wonderful person like you!

Cheers for the advice will bare it all in mind

suited-aces

Illegal? Seriously OP?