Husband scammed. Change house to my name?

[Sunnydaysaregreat]

It's looking very likely my husband has invested tens of thousands of pounds (turns out most of it is his family's as they thought he knew about money) in a scam investment. Spoke to FCA and Fraud Action already, both brilliant and gave help.

Although I'm shocked, I'm being calm with my husband and intend to talk about how we go forward, and pay back his family (I've been advised we're unlikely to get much money back). I'm trying to keep it together but the red flags were so clearly all over these companies, it's actually worried me so much that he is a liability for our financial safety (we have young children).

AIBU to tell him I want to house transferred into just my name? Obviously there's a huge trust issue in that he was doing all of this investing without telling me, but it's husband judgement I'm most concerned about. I'm going to talk to Citizens Advice tomorrow to ask about how this is done.

Advice appreciated as while I am being sensitive to the fact that he has absolutely been scammed, his judgement makes me feel unsettled.

There’s an old saying that you can’t cheat an honest man.

basically he needs to accept he took greedy and reckless actions out of greed. He needs to admit he was scammed and it would have been obvious to someone less greedy.

re family, there is a massive difference between if he borrowed money from them and invested in his name or if he encouraged them to invest in their names, and if the profit was going to come to him or them.

if he borrowed from them, you need to set up plans to repay them. If they were also greedy and no doing basic checks (and they know he’s not an accountant or financial advisor), then while morally you might feel you need to repay it, I’d not prioritise that.

definately you need full checks to make sure he hasn’t taken loans out you don’t know about.

Re the house - I think you can have the house just owned by you, so he can’t borrowed against the value/equity, but if you get divorced, it won’t matter it was just in your name when any split of assets was agreed.

you really need him to come clean if he’s already borrowed against the value of the house, and a new agreement that he doesn’t make any investments or gambles without discussing it with you first.

be clear this a betrayal comparable to cheating.

I’m sorry this is happening to you - it’s honestly a betrayal at least as bad as infidelity.

Some steps, because when someone has lost a lot of money, they very seldom want to admit exactly how much straight away.

First, check all bank accounts, statements, credit cards for the entire time period this has been going on and identify the transactions or transfers. That’s his accounts, joint accounts and your accounts too. Make a note of how much, anything identifiable and any patterns. This will help you to work out the scale of the loss and also flag anything that happens going forward.

Second, credit checks for both of you so you can work out if he has put debt in your names.

Third, check for charges against your home and whether that is now at risk directly. If you’re also on the mortgage and he has done so without your knowledge then that’s fraud.

Fourth, the other parties involved. Has he borrowed their money and invested it on their behalf or his own? Or had he simply convinced them to invest in the same thing as him and they did it themselves? That part is quite key when it comes to whether they can sue for the money.

He will likely drip feed or minimise it and it may take some time for you to find out exactly what has gone on. That the police are already involved suggests it’s pretty serious.

Next steps - ringfence your own accounts, hide or cut up credit cards, get him off any joint account. Set up an alert on your property (land registry) so you will know if anyone tries to place a charge against it. Keep on with the regular credit checks. If there is also debt involved, be aware bailiffs may turn up depending on what stage it’s at.

Unfortunately scam victims, much like gamblers, can be in denial and keep throwing money after it convinced it will all come right etc.

This scale of financial stupidity would be a deal breaker for me - placing your and your children’s home and financial security in jeopardy would be the end. I’d be doing the above checks and then looking to divorce.

this happened to someone i know, timeline went

Husband borrowed 25k from his parents and lost it all on a bitcoin type scam.
He felt like crap so instead of being honest he took his and his wifes savings of 17k and gambled it. With every win he would double his bet and lose it all til it was all gone.
He then remortgaged there house and put it all on an investment scam.

He lost everything, they lost the house and all of their savings and his parents never got the retirement fund back and are now on Benefits in old age instead of enjoying they're time. Was really sad

Oh and they did divorce, unfortunately she got nothing as they lost the house by then and all savings gone, but i know she's doing better now as she is with someone new and very happy :)

Yes, this.

And the trust issue is a massive one. Why didn't he talk to you about this investment? Does he have form for this?

Oh dear OP. I fear that you are just at the beginning of finding out what he has actually done.

@TiredCatLady has given you an excellent To Do list. Keep strong.

Also, as he has been stupid/greedy enough to fall for this scam, his details will have been sold on to other scammers. And as others have said, being found out as an idiot will make him vulnerable to trying to get it all back somehow. Especially as you say he is "proud", and the shit is about to hit the fan with his family, as well as you.

Well he's a fool isn't he? The trust would be gone from this marriage and I'm afraid I'd have to divorce him.

Don't be absurd. This isn't a simple 'mistake'. The OP's husband has been both duplicitous and stupid. I would actually be considering divorce over this, but if I didn't divorce him, I would most certainly want all assets in my name and to be in complete control of finances from here on in. I wouldn't even let him be buying a coffee for the forseeable future. What a moron.

It becomes like a gambling addiction, so yes.
I would get him to move his name off the deeds, and I'd remove his access to savings, and I would ensure everything in the house was in my name, not his.

With secret investing comes secret debt, and if he's sneaking about with his investing (I now call it gambling!) Chances are he will continue to sneak about doing it...before you know it, bailiffs are at your door.

Stability for your children should be paramount to both of you, so he should really agree.

Hoping it doesn't continue, maybe the embarrassment will be enough from having lost extended family members money too

I just assumed that she wanted to ensure that they didn’t lose the house (through debts he might have incurred).

I would check if the house being in your name actually makes any difference. I think you may find that If you are married it doesn’t matter whose name house is in if one of you is pursued for debts. I believe at that point technically you each own 1/2 of everything. I am not an expert but have looked into it.

Sorry haven't read all of the responses here, but I'm sure that if the house is mortgaged in both names you can't take his name off, unless you can mortgage the property without him (at least what I was told with my ex).

Also just to add it might be worth checking that he hasn't taken any debt against the house already /any other credit in your name.

Sorry you're going through this

My ex DH ran up debts without my knowledge. I only discovered that he had a CCJ (County Court Judgement) against him when we were refused a joint mortgage on our first flat.

He told me his debt was 'none of my business'. I said it absolutely was if it was stopping us getting a place together.

I had to go to my parents, cap in hand, and ask them to be the guarantors for my mortgage, embarrassing at the age of 28 (I was fully solvent, decent job, no debt) as I had to take the mortgage on alone.

He told me it was only a grand, which I was furious about because I could have paid that off immediately - AND he'd been buying designer clothes the week before.

Of course he was lying. It was much more - £8K (but this was the 90s, so much more in real terms). I was furious when I found out he'd lied. Even his mum was when I told her!

My dad said to call the wedding off - so I did, and moved back to theirs, but of course, I was then bombarded with calls and letters. In the end, I thought love could conquer all.

Once married, I found out he was online gambling into the wee small hours. When I approached hm about it, he hissed, "Don't worry I won't gamble YOUR house away" (everything had stayed in my name, despite his daughter moving in with us when she was 11).

Luckily when we divorced the house was in my name and I gave him a lump sum to buy him out of his (tiny) share of it. That was 6 years after the first red flag.

Don't ignore the red flags for years like I did.

The man who hides his finances from you and puts you, his children and his wider family at risk is not to be trusted, whatever his motivations. Any future with him will always be precarious at best.

This is not true. Debt accumulated in one person's name is theirs alone, regardless of marrital status. However, if they have assets in joint names, a house for example, then they could be pursued to pay their debt using those assets. The spouse cannot be pursued to pay their DH/DW's individual debt, nor can their individual assets be seized. So in this case, putting all assets into her name is the best way of protecting them.

In the event of divorce all assets go into the 'pot' to be divided, regardless of whose name they're in. Debt is only shared if it's in joint names.

Just to check: Is this crypto/blockchain?

The husband is definitely very naive to be pulled in by this scam so I think it's very wise to have the deeds of your property passed into your name only. He could, and probably will be, scammed again. Personally I would even be tempted to sever the marriage but that's just me. Get a solicitor ASAP.

What a tremendous betrayal and subsequent shock OP.

Your calmness probably is a direct result of being frozen in shock.

I would most certainly follow @TiredCatLady's advice - and soon.

The marriage would be over for me because all respect would be gone, no matter how sorry I may feel for his self-induced-pity. A man who gambled with the savings of my family wouldn't be a man I would want to remain with.

Naturally, this is easy for outsiders to say.

Bets of luck to you.

If you give assets away (or sell at an undervalue) for the purpose of putting those assets out of reach of someone who might make a claim against you, that's a voidable transaction under s423 of the Insolvency Act 1986, so the courts can just treat it as if the transfer never happened. Giving your half of the house to your wife because you're worried about being sued would fall squarely within this.

We're his family aware that he was investing it for them , if so then its their gamble! I don't understand why , your husband who has been a victim is liable?
Also you won't be able to transfer it into just your name as long as it is mortgaged even if you can afford the money on your own. If they have to repossess they dont want your dh there as a sitting tenant!

Thanks all. No not crypto, essentially rent to rent investment but with the 'guarantee' of 20% returns, or the worst one he confessed to was £20k for a 3 months investment then 50% interest. It's shocking.

His family didn't know exactly where he was putting the money but knew enough that they were equally gullible (who believes 20% interest is guaranteed?!).

To make matters worse, he has talked to FCA today and actually seems to think there is a chance he might get some money back as FCA couldn't be 100% certain it's a scam (even though they said all the red flags are there) because SO FAR they have been returned him the 'agreed' monthly drip feed of money back.

This actually has made me feel worse because at least yesterday he was sorry and worried, now he seems to think this might work out OK. He definitely hasn't understood how awful what he's done has been. If I ask him to leave he's going to be awful because he now thinks there might be a silver lining in that he might not lose ALL the money. My calmness has turned to rage now, I must have been in shock yesterday.

Use the rage @Sunnydaysaregreat. This isn't someone who has borrowed more than they should to keep their business afloat (for eg) but a man with a gambler mindset who doesn't actually think they've done anything wrong, now there is some vague, possible hope a bit of the money may be saved.

The wrong is still there, he did this foolishness behind your back and given the chance would do it again IMO. It is no life having to police an adults behaviour so you have less fear of losing your home and I wouldn't even attempt it.

I'm honestly sorry that you're going through this.

Was it an FCA regulated business that he invested in or did they use a fake registration number and pretend to be FCA registered?

Was the money actually invested in something or have they taken it and ran?

If they sent money to his personal bank account and he invested the money is his name then he is liable . My exhusband invested 3 lots of 50,000 of 'friends of friends' money into a scheme that was to pay regular dividends and ,after 3 years , the final dividend and the original lumps of cash were to be returned to him to return to the investors. He invested the money in his own name not the name of the people who sent him the money. The dividends were paid to him to pass on to them. This happened initially and then the money stopped. They took him to court to get it back.They won even though one of the companies he invested in had gone into liquidation a year before he invested and they could have found out simply by googled the name. First thing that comes up is that they had ceased trading. If its all in your husband's name he is liable. My exhusband had a limited company but put the money through his personal bank account. No protection.