I want to buy a car and lend it to my daughter. Will that affect divorce settlement? 23 January 2019 at 2:05PM in MoneySaving dads 2 replies 3.1K views

MySonEd

This post could be read in conjunction with my other (very recent) post in this forum. Title: "Can husband have wife arrested for using family car without husband's permission?" (I'm too new to post links.)

The other post gives more "background" details.

My daughter's husband has demanded that she stop driving his car. My first thought (as suggested by @HampshireH in the other post) was to buy her a car.

But my daughter's solicitor advised against this, because the car would then become part of her "assets". In turn, this would affect the ongoing "financial settlement" discussions, which precede her divorce.

So my next plan is to buy a car in my own name, and pay whatever insurance is needed. After that, I "lend" her the car.

From the other post, you can see that the husband is an amateur "legal eagle". So, I'm hoping that some of the legal eagles in this forum can advise whether my plan has any loopholes that could be used against my daughter.

Comms69

MySonEd wrote: »

This post could be read in conjunction with my other (very recent) post in this forum. Title: "Can husband have wife arrested for using family car without husband's permission?" (I'm too new to post links.)

The other post gives more "background" details. - You should keep it all on one thread. Also posting in the segregated forum of MSE Dads leaves a much lower chance of getting answers; correct or otherwise

My daughter's husband has demanded that she stop driving his car. My first thought (as suggested by @HampshireH in the other post) was to buy her a car. - Excellent.

But my daughter's solicitor advised against this, because the car would then become part of her "assets". In turn, this would affect the ongoing "financial settlement" discussions, which precede her divorce. - indeed

So my next plan is to buy a car in my own name, and pay whatever insurance is needed. After that, I "lend" her the car. - fine

From the other post, you can see that the husband is an amateur "legal eagle". So, I'm hoping that some of the legal eagles in this forum can advise whether my plan has any loopholes that could be used against my daughter.

Nope, you're fine.


You're the owner, she's the registered keeper (optional, but sensible if she's the primary driver)


Sort out insurance to reflect this.

TBagpuss

Make sure that you have something in writing NOW which says that the car is yours and is being lent to her until the financial settlement is sorted out .

A court is entitled to take into account the fact that loans from family members are usually 'soft' loans you are far less likely to sue her / repossess the car than a commercial lender would be, so a judge may take the view that your daughter is less likely to be left with no car than if she had borrowed money from a bank, for instance.

That said, if the evidence is 'my husband threatened to have me arrested if I drove the family car, so my mother lent my money to buy a car / lent me a car, but I still need money to buy a car for myself" then a judge may also take a dim view of his behaviour!