Divorce: credit cards.

[noplacelikehome]

My husband and I are currently going through mediation to resolve financial matters in our divorce.
We had our first session yesterday and the subject of credit cards was raised.
He has £24,000 of credit card debt of which I am being asked to take responsibility and pay for half.
This debt was run up during the course of our 13 year marriage, I accept that.
However, the cards are in his name only, I was just an additional card holder and can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I used it in 13 years as I am of the "if you can't afford it, don't have it" mindset.
He is not and has spent 13 years buying what he can't afford. No fancy holidays or major things just years of spending more money than he earned which has now built up into a mess.
I was always telling him to stop putting things on the credit cards but they were in his name so not much i could do to stop him and he'd always tell me it would be ok and not to worry about it.
Do I need to take responsibility for half of this debt as it was built up over the course of the marriage despite the cards being in his sole name?
I have been asked to add it onto my mortgage which I pay 100% of on my own despite the house still being in joint names but I doubt the bank will let me as I don't earn enough, same goes for a bank loan?
How will this be resolved if I do have to somehow come up with the money?
I would be grateful for any advice.

[medicalmayhem]

my solicitor told me, if its in his name its his debt, if its in your name its your debt, unless he can prove that specific items were bought for you and you have kept the items, ie laptop, car, etc things that are for you and your use then ypou may have to pay for them, but as long as your name isn't on the card and you didn't spend anything on that credit card account number then its his debt,

what did you mean "an additional card holder"?

[noplacelikehome]

The cards were in his sole name, when you have a credit card you can apply for a second card attached to your account to give to someone else, husband, wife, family member etc. so that they have their own card to use but it is still the main person's account.
This is an additional card holder.
I very rarely used mine. I have no receipts etc to prove exactly what was bought. It just built up over years of general overspending which I wasn't happy about but can't say I didn't know about and am now being asked to pay half but don't see how I can.

[medicalmayhem]

tricky one, you be best to take proper legal advice, if you had access to his account and used it, all be it occasionally, IMO you may be liable for some of the debt.

[noplacelikehome]

Thankyou. Yes, it seems to be a grey area.
I rang my solicitor this morning but couldn't speak to her, she wasn't in and won't be back until Monday so I was just hoping someone could possibly shed some light in the meantime.

[Resolution]

medicalmayhem - if you weren't married then that is correct advice. If you were married then you were given wrong advice.

On divorce the court tots up all the assets, deducts all the liabilities, and divides what remains in a fair way.

Often but not always this is split equally.

There are many reasons why the split should be unequal.

OP - what you'll have to do is examine the expenditure on the cards and then decide if it's all been spent on him, when you haven't spent the same on you. Chances are that will be hard to prove.

You really need to take advice from a solicitor during the process as unless you do, you'll be going in there blind.