To put all finances in DH's name?

[Icantrememberwhy]

I have been with DH for 15 years and everything has always been shared equally. However, last year we went through a rocky patch (and thankfully came through it) and it made me question if I had put myself in a terrible position.

Regardless of everything being shared, the house and mortgage are in DH's name (because I was a SAHM at the time) and all of our savings are in his stocks and shares portfolio too.

In the event of a relationship breakdown, would I still be entitled to half of everything? How does it work? Feeling worried

You can't have investments in joint names. I would be concerned that you are vulnerable and your DH has been siphoning his salary into investments while your limited earning power presumably means you don't have much spare income. No reason why you can't open a stocks and shares isa or sipp though. Just transfer regular money over into them from the joint account. How do you sort your finances? Separate accounts, joint accounts?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, meaning that an asset in your name, immediately available, is worth more to you than an asset that you many acquire after some time at divorce.

One way to approach this is to look at tax & estate planning for the family. A suitably certified financial advisor would give you both advice about optimising tax relief & mitigating risk to the family. Very reasonable position to take.

I would definitely use the coronavirus as a non-controversial reason to do some financial planning.

1. Making sure wills are up-to-date
2. Making sure all funds which can be held in joint accounts are.

I'd be tempted then to take some financial advice for yourself about how to protect your finances, at which point you can 'discover' the tax advantages to having assets in your name, since you have a tax allowance that isn't currently being used.

I do all the money management here. I am scrupulous in making it all fair. As much a possible, including the house is in joint names. If I open an ISA in my name, I do another in DH's name but he takes no interest whatsoever.

I could very easily disappear with all his savings and had have no idea what he'd lost. I don't think I would and obviously he doesn't think I would either but who knows if things turned sour? It would terrify me to be in his position.

I was going to put what Graphista said. You need money in case your dh dies. Let alone anything else.

With the house not being in joint names, does he have a will? Depending on the value of the house, you may find on death you don’t even own this outright. Right now as his spouse, you would inherit the first 250k of everything and half of the remainder. The balance to your children. Thank goodness you are married.

However, do be aware, if he does have a will, he could effectively draw one up cutting you out, house included. That doesn’t mean it would hold up in court. The house possibly would if the whole thing was put in trust to your kids giving you a lifetime right of occupancy.

He is a prize arsehole for persuading you that you shouldn’t go onto the mortgage then having children. Shame on him.

I also don’t know how you could have been so naive. Dh owns my car. That was only because he drove to collect it as I was too ill. Everything else is in joint names.

My DH died very suddenly - apart from my own account, with very little in it, all the business accounts were in his name (I worked for him) and were frozen on his death - I had to borrow money to pay bills until it was all sorted out, which took some time

When we bought our house and got a mortgage for it, it was just in my husbands name as my credit rating wasn’t great due to an old default I had on a credit card, I wasn’t comfortable being in that position as I was also a stay at home mum with no independent income, so I insisted we had a deed of trust set up in case we separated, where it stated my % interest in the property. He was absolutely fine with this as he wanted to give me peace of mind.

Once the default dropped off and my credit score was improved, we became joint tenants of the property and I was added to the mortgage. I was still a sahm and there was no issue.

Can you have your name added to the deeds and mortgage?

My friends husband left her on Christmas Day this year and went straight on holiday and spent all of their money from the joint account.before she knew what had happened.

If you hold assets, ( property, shares, accounts) in joint names it makes it easier for the other to access and communicate with the holding companies, financial institutions etc. Dduring times of illness, incapacity or death. It is also true that as you are named on these assets then legally liquidating, transfer or disposal requires consent from all names parties.
It would be prudent to try and add your name to main assets, i.e. house and investments anyway but especially if you are unsure of his motives. As others have suggested using the current uncertainty of health and covid fatalities as a mask you might be able to have a discussion to see if he would be receptive to putting things in joint names.
At the very least you should keep a list of accounts numbers, financial institutions and the value of assets on a regular basis. Photos, screenshots would be good evidence if your worst fears ever became reality.

OP I’d start this conversation off as ‘let’s sort our wills out’

This will open door to you saying actually I think it’s netter if my name was added for ease.

Good luck

If I had proof of how much money was in the accounts, wouldn't that be proof?

No. If the money has gone what good would knowing how much there was do you? It won't make it come back.

I'd suggest that you made copies/took photos of ALL the assets in the marriage, so if he does go off he can't hide them, an, am not sure what sort of figures we're talking about but someone I know did have to hire a forensic accountant as she know her now ex was hiding assets. The more you know about everything the better Again don't know how much the house is worth but there are tax advantages if god forbid you were to die in the near future, if you leave him half the house.
And yes tax advantages to savings being in your name
Difficult at the moment but do you think he is hiding anything?
If so do try and find any evidence once he is out at work again. Or look at the statements and see if there area any unexplained transfers

And the solicitor fees were VERY expensive

You don't need to use a solicitor to apply for probate.

Really bad idea to have everything in one person's name re; using both your tax allowances effectively, and problems sorting things after death. There is so much else that can happen apart from divorce.

It is a good idea to spread it out between you and spread the risk - some things joint, some separate.

If only one person in a marriage owns the house and mortgage, where does that leave them if their spouse dies? Usually you have life insurance on both of you that pays the mortgage off if one of you dies.

Dh and I have always had a joint mortgage, first couple of times we were both working full time, after that I was working part time then became a SAHM. At no stage have I ever signed anything to say I do not have a financial interest in the property because I helped build the pot that allowed us to buy subsequent houses.

It would only apply if you weren't on the mortgage and deeds. If a man owns the house but is married, then it becomes a marital asset and it makes it difficult to repossess and sell, as his wife could claim ownership and prevent the sale. I'm sure it's not as simple as that in reality, but that was the basis of the reasoning that we used when I worked in a bank. Similarly we would never agree to lend unless all people named on the deeds were also on the mortgage. (Other lenders might have done, I can only share my experience of where I worked.)

So you thought your name couldnt be on the mortgage because your a SAHM....get some legal advice....even if your not separating you need to ensure you have protected your self. I think you can register an interest in your home via land registry

-www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/protecting-your-home-ownership-rights-during-divorce-or-dissolution#property-owned-by-one-of-you

I would suggest you sort this out asap

I think you can register an interest in your home via land registry

You can. It means that you have to sign a document agreeing to the sale of the property.

You need to sort this out ASAP.

I have spent countless hours explaining to women exactly why this sort of set up with everything in the husband's name is the worst solution possible.

It's weird because DH and I have always split assets, not because of potential divorce or to protect ourselves, but because it always seemed the most sensible as a way to ensure that if something happened to the other one, there's money/assets immediately available to the other plus tax benefits etc.

I'm always deeply suspicious when a couple have put everything into one person's name because it screams either, "I'm going to screw you in a divorce" or "I'm hiding assets from family/work/HMRC etc".

I'm not sure how you fix this but at the very least, if you're a SAHM you should have some of the assets in your name as then any income would be tax free up to your tax free allowance. That might be a way into this discussion. Agree that potential problems if he dies is another.

OP, before opening up a discussion with your H have a look around to see if you can find any information about the assets held in his name. It would be a good idea for you to have your own copies of any such information.

If he isn't open to discuss this constructively, it wouldn't be surprising for any information that could be useful to you to become unavailable.

@JosephineDeBeauharnais your poor sil. Classic example of why financial education is SO important especially for women. We need to talk more openly and honestly about finances.

@Mummyoflittledragon - yes separation is more common but even young people die out of the clear blue yonder! I've seen it happen and the devastating effects of poor financial planning prior.

We'd need to know which part of Uk op is in, assuming they are in Uk to properly advise, inheritance rules for example are very different in Northern Ireland and Scotland to England and Wales.

Re your own car you can transfer ownership legally without a sale. Online with dvla.

@Wimpeyspread Sorry for your loss and the associated difficulties you went through

My aunt is a forensic accountant (wish I had spoken with her and she'd known my circumstances prior to the split - she'd have had a fit and told me what to do to give me some protection, she assumed I was sorted) yes they can be used for evidence gathering in such circumstances but they aren't cheap! And having as much info as possible gives them a starting point if needed.

Graphista
Yes you’re correct. I hadn’t thought that op may be under different iht rules when I posted. And yes, people do indeed die young. We see it all the time. Especially atm sadly.

Also, if something happened to either of you, would you want the bank/ investment company/ whatever to keep the money because the other one didn't have the number and sort code that would enable the account to be found by the surviving spouse, or if something happened to you both, by your executors. It does happen. Time to have a conversation. Also have you sorted out who would look after your children in the even to you both dying, and have you asked them?
If you are likely to travel together in the same vehicle as that person, have you got a backup plan in case you, your husband, the person you had expected to look after your child all died in an accident that injured but did not kill your offspring? Grim, I know and I'll probably get shouted at for mentioning something so upsetting. But probably not as upsetting as it has been for the children to whom that has happened.

Do not put everything in his name! This is what I’m going through just now, house is in joint names but all savings accounts in his which he is refusing to split until an overall agreement is made, he is also spending some of it so my advice is get in your name of joint names

Op, trying to back track and '' recover '' funds moved, spent, given away is an arduous, expensive task.

Far safer and better to secure everything now. I'd be thinking more in the event of a sudden death.
Mortgage, house deeds etc.