Re:Debt and asset split

Hi there new to this board, my name is Ruth and I stay in Glasgow.

This has no doubt been asked before but i would appreciate any help or advice from anyone on here.

After 2 years of marriage (we have no kids) I left my husband for various reasons including his drug abuse (after I caught him several time, although I have no actual proof).

I left him 2 months ago and recently contacted him to see if we could come to a private financial agreement, hoping that i would get a little bit of money to help me start my new life.

All the assets (house, 2 cars, credit cards & personal loans) are in his name and other than the house and 1 car are solely his purchases (although i am an additional card holder on 2 credit cards).

He replied to me stating that adding up all the assests and liabilities (including his pension and shares through work) i was liable for £37k (half of the debt).

This came as a great shock to me as you can imagine.

So what i am asking to find out is am i liable for half of everything including his personal debt?

Any help would be much appreciated as i am getting very distressed by this.

Hi Ruth and welcome to Wikivorce.

Matrimonial assets are those accrued during the length of the marriage, up to the agreed date of separation. The only exceptions are gifts and inheritances, which remain the sole property of the beneficiary.

If the house,cars, etc are matrimonial property, the it doesn't matter whose name they are in - its also worth noting that bank/savings accounts in sole names are also considered matrimonial property (for the duration of the marriage), also pensions and shares.

There are four steps which should be considered before making a decision about the financial arrangements. Please note that matrimonial property is that which is accrued between the date of marriage and the date of separation.

1. Establishing the date of separation on which the married couple cease to cohabit as man and wife.

2. Identifying all the assets owned jointly or individually by a couple at the separation date including the house, furnishings, a car, pensions, savings and investments and any outstanding liabilities (mortgage, car finance, personal loans, credit card debts etc) in existence on the date of separation.

3. Determining any non matrimonial property by looking at the individual assets and seeing the circumstances in which they were acquired. Assets owned by either party before the marriage or those gifted or inherited are not matrimonial property.

4. Valuing matrimonial assets as at the date of separation, for example, by providing statements for savings, asking insurance companies for surrender valuations of endowments and pension providers for the Cash Equivalent Transfer Value. Endowment policies and pensions started before marriage are apportioned for the years of the marriage. It's best to have agreement before having the house valued by a Chartered Surveyor. The liabilities are deducted from the assets to provide the net value of matrimonial property.

I would suggest that you do your own sums, and find out exactly what debts there are, and when the loans were taken out - £37k seems a lot for half a debt! does that include the mortgage? And were any of these debts taken out prior to marriage?

Ruby

Many thanks for your (quick) reply Ruby.

I think that makes thing a bit clearer however with regards to credit cards, in order to value that (negative) asset is it simply the balance at the point of separation, or an adding up of purchases made during the marriage, and how does this fit in with payments made to the card during the marriage?

Also if these have been used solely by my husband to buy himself clothes, golf trips, nights out and general spending etc, am i liable for half of this?

Finally, are HP payments and the like taken into account against the value of an asset? For example a car worth £5k now but with £10k left to pay, does that mean i have to pay half of the outstanding amount (£2.5K)?

Again, any help much appreciated.
xx

I would be looking at the amount outstanding at the point of separation - you could try to argue that the purchases made by your husband were solely for his benefit and not a joint/matrimonial benefit, but whether that would "wash" with the other side (your husband's solicitor) is a matter for debate.

When looking at outstanding amounts on loans, cars, houses, etc - it is usual to subtract the remaining equity from the debt and then divide the remaining negative balance between the two parties - the percentage split is open to agreement between the parties.

Ruby

Hello Ruth, i would not be able to add anything more to the 2 very informative posts by ruby but i would recommend dropping into chat as well as posting.
The wiki guys and girls have a wealth of experience and knowledge in relation to divorce and separation and are at many different stages of the process.
Chat is great even just to get things off your chest in the knowledge that you are amongst those going through similar sets of circumstances who are always ready to offer support and advice

All the best, Chris.