pre existing loans, who pays during divorce?

patlewis

My wife took out a £10,000 loan after we had separated (we have not started divorce proceedings yet) but I was wondering if anyone knows if I will still be liable to pay half of this? She used the money for cosmetic surgery.

fluffnutter

It's slightly ambiguous what you're asking. Are you saying 'Can I be chased for this debt if she defaults?' or are you saying 'When it's agreed who gets what and all our debts and assets are taken into account, will I have to give her £5K in respect of this loan?', i.e. is it a 'joint' debt at present?

I assume what you're getting at is something like this...

You have assets of, say, £100K. You have debts of, say £15K, £5K of which was a loan for home improvements and £10K was for her tit job. This leaves assets of £85K.

Your question is, do you each have assets on divorce of £42,500 or can you argue that she should shoulder the entire £10K leaving you with £47,500 and her with £37,500.

If it's the latter then it's up to you to ensure that this loan is mentioned and catered for in your divorce settlement. TBH, though, if you've got kids and you earn well and your missus doesn't, your assets are unlikely to be split 50/50 anyway. Any settlement will be about making sure the kids don't suffer; the courts won't care that she spent this money on botox; it's an irrelevancy. If you're the breadwinner, then you'll be paying out.

We need more info.

Marisco

If the loan is in her name, then it's her responsibility. If it's a joint loan then it begs the question of why you took out a joint loan when you had already separated? But if she defaults and it's in her name then no, you don't have to pay it.

NAR

OP your solicitor certainly needs to highlight it when it comes to the financial settlement of the marital assets, to ensure it is not included.