Paying a bill not in my name

JChappell

A few months ago my husband (now separated and he has moved out) arranged to have some work done in our garden. The house is owned outright by me and he is not on the Title Deeds. We agreed to split the bill 50/50, paying half each. He has now moved out and the bill was made out in his name. Surprise surprise he is now refusing to pay his half.
Am I liable for all this bill, or just my half? The work was done on my property, totally arranged by him, and the invoice is in his name.
I have paid my half to the contractor but my soon to be ex husband is saying the debt is all mine. Is this correct?

Mojisola

JChappell wrote: »

A few months ago my husband (now separated and he has moved out) arranged to have some work done in our garden. The house is owned outright by me and he is not on the Title Deeds. We agreed to split the bill 50/50, paying half each. He has now moved out and the bill was made out in his name. Surprise surprise he is now refusing to pay his half.

Am I liable for all this bill, or just my half? The work was done on my property, totally arranged by him, and the invoice is in his name.

I have paid my half to the contractor but my soon to be ex husband is saying the debt is all mine. Is this correct?

Morally, you are the one benefiting from the work as you own the asset so I think you should pay for it.

JChappell

Thanks, morally probably, but where do I stand legally? Does anyone know?

TonyMMM

Who agreed the work with the contractor ? The person(s) who entered into that contract are responsible for payment.

By already paying half the cost , you have potentially accepted your liability.

Do the decent thing and pay the rest to the contractor (it isn't his fault) , and then claim half the cost from your ex (via a small claim if necessary).

pigpen

legally if the bill is in his name he should pay it all... however as you will benefit from the work you should pay it all really.

Guest101

JChappell wrote: »

A few months ago my husband (now separated and he has moved out) arranged to have some work done in our garden. The house is owned outright by me and he is not on the Title Deeds. We agreed to split the bill 50/50, paying half each. He has now moved out and the bill was made out in his name. Surprise surprise he is now refusing to pay his half.
Am I liable for all this bill, or just my half? The work was done on my property, totally arranged by him, and the invoice is in his name.
I have paid my half to the contractor but my soon to be ex husband is saying the debt is all mine. Is this correct?

If he pays, he just gains more of an interest (he probably already has some) in the property.


You'd be wise to pay it yourself, though how long the house remains yours should be a concern

pmlindyloo

Mojisola wrote: »

Morally, you are the one benefiting from the work as you own the asset so I think you should pay for it.

This might depend on how the assets are split after divorce. The house will be part of the settlement regardless of who owns it. Therefore the ex may still benefit from the work that was done.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/relationships/relationship-problems/ending-a-marriage/#h-property-and-possessions

Legally, as already said, the person responsible is the one who signed the contract with the builder but having made a verbal contract at the time of the work that you would split the cost then the contract/bill could just be seen as being put in one party's name - the intention being that there was joint responsibility.

And, having paid half of it you have already indicated that this was, in part, your responsibility.

I think that the answer to your question should be based on what is going to happen to the property.

If your ex has renounced all claims to the property then the work will become part of your asset and you should pay the bill.

If the property is split 50/50 then your ex should pay half the bill as he, too, will have benefited from an improvement.

Unfortunately, it sounds as if there is animosity between you so you may be better off paying the bill (am thinking of the contractor here) and then 'fight' about this at mediation or in court if you cannot reach an amicable agreement before then.

TBagpuss

It depends who made the contract with the contractor. If your husband made all the arrangements, signed the contract etc then he is legally liable to the contractor, although his contribution will be relevant *as between you and him* when it comes to sorting out your joint finances.

Have you and he reached agreement yet about your finances?

If the work is likely to effect the value of the property then when you have the house valued make sure that the value is aware of the work and ask them to comment specifically on what (if any) difference it would make to the value of the property.

Imp

Guest101 wrote: »

If he pays, he just gains more of an interest (he probably already has some) in the property.


You'd be wise to pay it yourself, though how long the house remains yours should be a concern

As they are married, that interest would be around 50% of the property, irrespective of the work being done and who paid for it.

Guest101

Imp wrote: »

As they are married, that interest would be around 50% of the property, irrespective of the work being done and who paid for it.

Not necessarily, that's the starting position.


This is something to put on his side of the scales

Dill

JChappell wrote: »

A few months ago my husband (now separated and he has moved out) arranged to have some work done in our garden. The house is owned outright by me and he is not on the Title Deeds. We agreed to split the bill 50/50, paying half each. He has now moved out and the bill was made out in his name. Surprise surprise he is now refusing to pay his half.
Am I liable for all this bill, or just my half? The work was done on my property, totally arranged by him, and the invoice is in his name.
I have paid my half to the contractor but my soon to be ex husband is saying the debt is all mine. Is this correct?

I think it's really difficult to give a generic answer to this. It sounds like it's always been your house (?) and you agreed to have the work done to the garden.

Presumably you are benefitting from the gardening work, and not him.

If he had ordered a pond with £10k of prize carp in it, then b-ggered off and left you with the bill for them, I could see your point of view, lol but presumably it's routine maintenance work and you wanted and needed it done, so why not just pay it.