Squirrelling away money

No you cannot spend all of shared savings, that will all be disclosed and he will get his % of it back out of your share of equity etc. Better for you short term to pay bills but you’re no better off in the long run.

You can both spend your own and marital money post separation. You should be able to demonstrate that the spending is proportionate and was for needs which required settling before the financial settlement - that you weren’t egregious or trying to spend down savings on things for yourself to avoid them being considered. Household bills for the house before it sells, clothes for the DC etc would be needs. You need to declare all your accounts - including ones you have which you think he doesn’t know about or doesn’t know you have money in.

When you say that divorce is impending: what stage are you actually at? Does he currently have no idea that this is your intention and how he’s going to respond and whether he’d agree for things like improvements to make the house more saleable would be necessary? As you’re co-owners of the marital home, any work on it should be by agreement. Without that, it’s more difficult to argue you should be compensated at financial settlement for it because you spent your own savings.

Well in theory your supposed to declare everything - not just the assets he knows about.

However, if you're talking about £2k I can't see it's gonna make much difference in the grand scheme of things. As another pp said, it's probably money you'll need to DO the break-up and get away. It'll be long spent by the time you have to complete the paperwork.

I had a good escape fund, some kept at work, some hidden at home. What i did do just before i threw him out was stock my cupboards especially with things that cost a lot, olive oil, spices etc. I had so many laundry products i could have started a laundrette. I also bought myself and the children new clothes especially the next winter coats and a few Christmas/birthday presents. Basically anything that costs money. It really helps with the transition. The gift cards you buy now will cover next Christmas.

When I was getting ready to end things with my abusive ex I didn't squirrel money. But I did overpay the energy bills so it was in credit in case he stopped paying. I bought sizes up for kids clothes before they were needed. Made sure car was full of fuel etc. All small things in the grader scale of finances but it made me feel a little more secure for the initial period.

DC doesn’t realistically need any ‘childcare’ between the hours of 8-6 Monday to Friday if they’re at secondary. They probably haven’t needed it for a while. Why haven’t you started working yet?

Save money if you want but obviously you will have to declare it when you fill in your financial forms whether it's in cash or in a savings account.

This. If the courts find you have accounts that you haven’t declared, that’s fraud. Yes the fraud itself carries serious consequences but rules you out of a lot of future jobs too. I find a lot of the advice on this thread both legally and morally dubious. You could get into a LOT of trouble here.

Then you say you were taking it out to have savings in your own name and show them it’s now all in a different bank account? Or are you trying to hide the money during the divorce too?

Agree with this, how old are dc and how many do you have?
youll get uc to pay towards any out of school childcare remember.

I know someone who bought gift cards to build a nest egg. If h notices then it can be explained as a gift for someone.

You’ve left it a bit late to start a rainy day fund. It’s already raining!

Go get a job. You don’t need to “figure out job options” that’s just wasting time.

I would crack on with finding paid employment and looking into what welfare benefits you’re entitled to. Squirrelling £100 here and there isn’t going to get you anywhere. What’s your plan for when you won’t have access to your husband’s salary and the joint accounts post-divorce, or even during divorce proceedings?

I'd open a second bank account and deposit some of the cash (from supermarket cash back and small withdrawals) in there AND keep some as cash. Spread the risk as much as possible. Plus gift cards but as a PP said be careful about expiry date. It's likely that you'll spend what's in the bank account between separating and settling finances in the divorce unless you manage to stash a vast amount.

This is why courts consider intent and whether the behaviour is egregious in their decisions. Somebody removing large sums of money, hiding accounts, or making extravagant purchases in order to intentionally deprive their spouse of funds at settlement will have that behaviour addressed, with add backs as an option. A SAHP who has used small amounts of marital money as a reserve so they can make sure the household bills get paid when their ex has moved out and is no longer sharing their income is treated somewhat differently.

When finances are looked at, you’d be expected to account for any unusual transactions or transfers, it’s far more difficult for his side to argue about amounts which appear to be ordinary spending e.g. adding cash back to the total amount at Sainsbury’s. But unless he has a lot of cashflow or never checks the accounts, it’s not going to be a sustainable way of squirrelling money long term - I’d absolutely notice if the shopping when DH did it suddenly began regularly costing £200 rather than £100 and I’d ask him what he was doing with the all the champagne he’d been buying.

If you keep it in an account you need to declare it at financial settlement, and if you’ve spent it post-separation then that could be considered when deciding how assets and capital are split; but it’s a fairly complicated area of law involving add-backs, for which conduct has to be proven for which expenditure has to be found by the court to be disproportionate and egregious. It’s unlikely that using it for bills because you can no longer rely on his income will be seen as such.

You're really looking for tips on hiding money during a divorce aren't you. I'm sure plenty of posters can tell what what their exes did.

Watch out for the date on gift cards.

As per PPs:
Build up cash through cash-back or buying useful gift cards at the supermarket - clever idea, that.

Put the cash in an account in your name that your STBX can't access so you'll have access to funds to support your move. Also, if you put down a deposit in cash for a rental flat, that will seem dodgy/may not be accepted b/c it seems dodgy.

Also, you need an account in your name so that you'll have somewhere to deposit your pay or UC or whatever since you won't want to put it in a joint account at that point. Ideally, you'll have 2 accounts: a current account for payments and receiving any funds and a savings account earning interest on anything you can stash in there.

Yes, ultimately, account(s) in your own name it will be included in the divorce settlement. But as per PPs, by that time, you will be living independently and there may not be very much in there.