This week I met a lady living in a Council House in a not so wonderful part of London. She was telling me about herself and how she had last seen her husband about 7 years ago. They had parted before that. But she does not want to get divorced, because she does not want to spend any more money on him.
He left her with a debt of £7000 which she has been paying off ever since. She still has £2000 to pay off and that will take about 2 more years.
I wonder. Is that really necessary? A quick check on the law highlights that there are some straightforward questions to answer. For example, whose debt is it anyway? Did they take on the debt jointly, using a joint account? Or was it something her husband bought in his own name? This is the basic question.
Since she has not been divorced, it is possible that she has not consulted with a solicitor or legal adviser, and she may just have assumed that she is liable. Perish the thought, but it could happen. A huge behemoth of a company could just bluff its way and convince her that she is responsible.
An interesting point about this is, the law in US and Uk is somewhat different. Debts incurred after marriage are more likely to be seen as the responsibility of both parties in the US than in the UK.
There is an interesting post on this subject at the intriguingly named plonkee.com site. It was uplifting to read that at least one husband would not consider not paying off his wife’s debts, providing he was able to. The age of chivalry is not dead after all, ladies.
But still, better beware of what you are doing, and what is more, of what your husband is doing, before you have an unpleasant wake up call from a credit agency. And I think I will have a little chat with the lady I met yesterday, just to be sure she has been properly advised.
