Confused about calculations of income/expenditure, and shared liability for my own debts with wife?

anonymousjohn

Hi! I have posted here before briefly but that was very early into the journey of seeking help. I have now had my 3 meetings with CAP who have proposed a budget based on household income/expenditure, e.g. my wife's income and my student bursary/maintenance loan.

An important note here is that all debts are mine except for one car hire purchase which is in my wife's name. We have no joint financial products.

It was my understanding that my wife should have no obligation to repay any of my debts since none of them are shared with her. But likewise I understand that to assess available money to repay, they have to assess household income.
So I really don't know where to go from here - I absolutely do not want her paying a single penny towards my debt if it can be helped, because I feel sole responsibilty for dealing with this no matter what it ends up leading to.

They have recommended a debt repayment plan of more than my own income, so she would be needing to contribute.
My "income" of bursary and maintenance loan is £555, her income is £1785. Her only debt is a car HP agreement of £180/month - I am not named on this. My debts are the bulk of things and add up to circa £19,100 or so so you can see why I am hestitant that she should be paying them off. They want us to pay £565/month into the CAP plan but this includes lots of her own living expenses and general future savings, which are slightly more optional payments. In my head I feel like it should only be my income they go off for my own debts, and would only use joint income for joint debts?

My main question is: is this correct? Am I wrong in thinking that she has no obligation to repay my debts? Everywhere I have read online suggests that the debts are independent and she doesn't take responsibility for them merely because we are married and living together.

Any input would be great! Thanks

anonymousjohn

In an ideal world I would continue to make token payments on my debts until July when I enter full time work with a better salary. My wife could continue to pay off her sole independent debt as she normally does.
I could then try and negotiate a repayment plan individually with my creditors for my own debt.
Why wouldn't this have been suggested by CAP?

mwarby

Have you looked into a DRO, its not clear if you rent or not, but if you do it maybe an option

If you were to go bankrupt its only your income which is taken into account, although household expenses should be split fairly based on income, or 50/50 if partner is unwilling to share income details

Galloglass

50/50 if partner is unwilling to share income details

CAP should not be asking for personal information (your wife's) if you do not have her authority to do so. Partners can decide they don't want to be involved so a 50/50 split of expenses would seem to be appropriate. 

Why wouldn't this have been suggested by CAP?

As you have asked for advice, you get it based on the rules around money advice. You should get the same result whoever you ask but organisations tend to have a favourite. CAP's is savings. 

You don't need to take the advice and you can run the matter yourself in the expectation of a better income. However you should include some of the CAP advice such as savings - though perhaps not at the level they suggest. 

Why not put up a Statement of Account based on one income and 50% expenses. The others will be able to contribute their knowledge and experience in squeezing a bit more free cash for your creditors.