Ended relationship - finances

Baldytyke88

My daughter has recently ended her relationship with her boyfriend, they have both lived at my house for 6 years and paid zero bills.

They came here with debt. I am not involved in advising on their finances, but just wondered what the principles are.

My daughter has always earned a reasonable income, whereas her partner worked just minimum hours. I believe my daughter has a LISA with £10k in it, and her boyfriend has debt. Are their finances totally separate?

gwynlas

Unless they are married or have joint accounts then yes their finances are seperate.

in taking them in you could have assisted them to address their problems

flaneurs_lobster

gwynlas said:

Unless they are married or have joint accounts then yes their finances are seperate.

Even if married, finances (meaning savings, assets and liabilities like loans) are still separate.

elsien

You said “they” have debts.  If these are debts in joint names, then obviously they are both equally responsible.
Not seeing the relevance of them living with you rent free with regards to whether their finances are separate or not?

Emmia

Presumably the boyfriend has moved out?

Baldytyke88

elsien said:

You said “they” have debts.  If these are debts in joint names, then obviously they are both equally responsible.
Not seeing the relevance of them living with you rent free with regards to whether their finances are separate or not?

I am not exactly sure, I lent/gave them £500 when they moved in, he may still have debts.

It only happened yesterday, but apparently it has been on the cards for months. He doesn't have anywhere to go, a case of begging parents/relatives whom he hasn't seen for many months.

RAS

Presumably he also has friends? Anyone got a spare room? 

I'd suggest you advise him to find out why the local housing allowance is for someone his age, and then go to turn2us to find out what housing and CT benefits he can get.

One small warning if he lives or works near somewhere which is close to the border between 2 or more LAs, he needs to check the allowances and CT for all the LAs. Finding yourself just over the border from your workplace, far from the HQ for the LA where you live can complicate things. Your cheapest transport option boundary may be a mile from home and you may not be entitled to resident discounts for various nearby facilities, but eligible for those you can't access etc.

Brie

just to clarify - if daughter has a credit card and gave her BF a card so that he could use her account those are strictly her debts, not his, even if he was buying stuff strictly for his own use.  She's the one that signed the credit agreement.  Obviously it's the same if it's his CC and she was given a card to use his account - all his debt.

elsien

Also he can’t touch her LISA, if that is one of the things you were wondering about.

Baldytyke88

elsien said:

Also he can’t touch her LISA, if that is one of the things you were wondering about.

I don't know their finances, but it sounds like it's a matter of all agreements will remain, what ever they were.

DullGreyGuy

flaneurs_lobster said:

gwynlas said:

Unless they are married or have joint accounts then yes their finances are seperate.

Even if married, finances (meaning savings, assets and liabilities like loans) are still separate.

They are legally one persons however on divorce the principle is that everything is shared 50/50 so if one has a £20k debt and the other has £30k savings the default position is that they should walk away as both having a +£5k net position. You can try and argue something other than 50/50 but that depends on a number of factors. 

As unmarried couples its broadly you simply walk away though couples may decide to be fairer to each other if one has accrued debt for joint purposes or for the other etc. Similarly you can potentially claim rights to property if you've contributed to it.