Divorce - Owed Money but it's in my name..

Tatters26

I'm writing this on behalf of a friend after some advice and I said to try here, as I'm currently doing a mortgage application and found these forums really helpful.

She is wanting to divorce her now husband as he had an affair and left this summer. She could go down the 'adultery’ or ‘unreasonable behaviour’ route for divorce but if it can be resolved amicably, she is happy to wait it out and do it themselves after the two years is up.

The issue is he has a lot of debt which is sadly in her name as his credit score was poor, so they used her name for everything. The total is close to £20,000, with £7000 of that alone on one Capital One credit card that is in just her name, but he actually took out without her knowledge! The card went into CCJ (which is still on her record) and is un-paid and sitting there. The entire balance is his to pay and as I say, was even taken out on a card she didn't know about until the statement dropped on her mat. This was a few years ago and caused huge issues but they remained together.

The rest of the money is from other credit card commitments in her name, with some debt also on joint credit cards and a joint overdraft that needs paying.

Should she divorce him herself amicably with the two year rule and not then need a solicitor involved at all, but use one for the money split? Or if she's using a solicitor for the money side of it to arrange the split and payments, should she also get the same solicitor to sort the divorce? She can go down the adultery route with evidence and admission from him, so that wouldn't be an issue. The only reason not to would be to save money as (clearly from above) they're not in a great financial situation currently. 

Even in the first 4 months since separation he has agreed to a payment plan with her and failed already, turning on the waterworks and saying he can't pay what he agreed to when they made the plan. Therefore she wants something as legal as she can get that ensures he pays her back a reasonable figure either in one lump or over time.

MEM62

Tatters26 said:

The issue is he she has a lot of debt which is sadly in her name as his credit score was poor, so they used her name for everything. The total is close to £20,000, with £7000 of that alone on one Capital One credit card that is in just her name, but he actually took out without her knowledge! The card went into CCJ (which is still on her record) and is un-paid and sitting there. The entire balance is his to pay and as I say, was even taken out on a card she didn't know about until the statement dropped on her mat. This was a few years ago and caused huge issues but they remained together.

I corrected that for you.  If it is in her name then it is her debt - no matter what the circumstances that led to it.  He had bad credit and could not borrow from mainstream lenders  because he had previous failed to meet his obligations.  That is not going to change now.  No doubt he will play all sorts of emotional games and make all sorts of promises but the unfortunate truth is that he has led her up the garden path and she is going to struggle to recover any of this money from him.  Her best chance is to start divorce proceedings now and see if she can get the financial settlement to reflect this debt.  

NBLondon

Tatters26 said:

with £7000 of that alone on one Capital One credit card that is in just her name, but he actually took out without her knowledge! 

That's called fraud isn't it?  I get that she wants to do things as amicably as possible but that bit suggests this may be over optimistic.

Savvy_Sue

I agree, she can either forget the debt (ie pay it all herself) or divorce amicably: one or the other. 

She should also make sure she's got a marker on her credit file so that he can't take any more credit out in her name. 

And speak to a debt management charity to get started on driving the debt down. Although yes, it should be included in any financial settlement. She's unlikely to get anything from him, but at least he won't get anything from her ... 

london21

She might not get any of the money back from him.
she should have reported the fraud, he made an application in her name without her knowledge.
aviod getting any debt for anyone especially someone with a bad financial history. 

pinkshoes

Tatters26 said:

The issue is he has a lot of debt which is sadly in her name as his credit score was poor, so they used her name for everything. The total is close to £20,000, with £7000 of that alone on one Capital One credit card that is in just her name, but he actually took out without her knowledge! The card went into CCJ (which is still on her record) and is un-paid and sitting there. The entire balance is his to pay and as I say, was even taken out on a card she didn't know about until the statement dropped on her mat. This was a few years ago and caused huge issues but they remained together.

I suggest she writes to him asking for payment in FULL of his debts totalling £XXXXX within 28 days, otherwise she will be reporting him for fraudulently taking out a credit card in her name.

No point her doing this nicely. The debt is in her name so hers to pay for now. Does he actually have any money? No point chasing someone for money if they don't have it.

TBagpuss

OK, she can deal with the divorce herself and get a solicitor to deal with the finances. Instruct the solicitor early on and liaise with them about the timing of the divorce .

In looking at finances, all financial elements are taken into account including debts. As between her and creditor the debt is her responsibility, but a court can take it into account in the divorce settlement and (for instance) give her a bigger share of any assets to enable her to clear the debt. Obviously this assumes that there is a house, or pensions , or other assets.

A court has no power to order the credit card company to transfer the debt to him, but could order other assets transferred or even, potentially, make an order for maintenance to allow her to use the money to pay down the debt.

If he fraudulently forged her name to get the credit then she would need to be willing to report it as fraud, including reporting it to the police. IF she does so then she may be able to get it out of her name, although there may be an issue in terms of when she found out and how long ago that was, it may be argued that it's too late for her now to claim fraud (and expect to be believed)  

Tatters26

TBagpuss said:

If he fraudulently forged her name to get the credit then she would need to be willing to report it as fraud, including reporting it to the police. IF she does so then she may be able to get it out of her name, although there may be an issue in terms of when she found out and how long ago that was, it may be argued that it's too late for her now to claim fraud (and expect to be believed)  

Yes this was a question we wondered, can she "let him off" with something as they're in a relatrionship at the time (fraud) but then 4 years later report it and suddenly want action taken?

Malthusian

There's a good chance it would be an empty gesture anyway if he doesn't have any money.

In general there's no legal obligation to report a crime, so nothing legally wrong with only reporting one 4 years down the line after a marriage collapses and the fraudster refuses to make the fraud good.

Is there a house or any other assets in the marriage? If not, any prospect of getting the money back seems very remote.

Tatters26

No house, no assests, etc. He owns a very fancy car (all part of the Instagram life) but riddled with debt. But no, nothing she can really go after. 

CottonTail

Wow she really has a terrible error of judgement here doesn't she! Unfortunately its unlikley she will get anywhere with the debt settlement from him as even if it went to court he would pay tiny minimum payments to her due to the vastness of his other debts/outgoings and would claim hardship.

the best thing to do here is her begin divorce proceedings, write to the credit card company claiming fraud, tho the fact that she has known about it for a while and done nothing makes me think that is a dead avenue./..
GET A FINANCIAL SETTLEMENT/SPLIT and walk away and dont ever be such a mug again.