student loan treatment in divorce

[tryingtobestonger]

DP currently trying to sort financials in divorce. There are only debts to agree on which are equal if his student loan is taken into consideration. His student loan was taken out during his marriage and now his stbxw is saying it should not be considered meaning he will have to take on more of the share of her debt.

Struggling to get advise from solicitor so wondering if anyone else has any advise regarding this or experience of dealing with in divorce?

'he will have to take on more of the share of her debt.'

Don't they have his debts, her debts and joint debts?
The ones to be split are the joint ones, and the one's that she has incurred under her own name should be hers?

It would seem extrememly unfair if she was expected to take on any of his student loan debt, unless he is also prepared to share the potential benefits of his degree with his ex (raised salary, improved job prospects etc) for the rest of his life.

Goblin - he has 'his' debts of £5k (without his student loan which is £9k so total of £14k) and she has 'her' debts of £15k. She wants him to take on half the difference between £5k and £15k so he takes on £5k of her debt. Obviously if you take the student loan into consideration they are about equal so you would think this would be fair but she doesn't agree.....

BettyBotter - he doesn't want her to take on his student loan but acknowledge that it should be counted as a debt he has.

Might depend on what the other debts are for?
If her £15K was run up on a car for her only, or handbags... that's different to it being the result of financing joint holidays.
There is no hard and fast rule, but the basic premise for starting point is 50/50 all assets and debts. So he's in a good position I think.

I think only about 60% of student debts or 40% even are ever paid back so they may well not be treated ilke a real debt. Eg is he earning enough to pay any of it back ever? If not I would not have thought it should count as a debt. if instead he is likely to pay 100% of it back and is paying back now and it all looks set to be something he will 100% pay back rather than skip abroad and never pay or give up work and never pay then it would be different.

a student loan isn't a 'normal' loan...it's not subject to the same conditions regarding interest and isn't payable when the debtor isn't earning or is earning below a certain amount. I don't have much experience with this but I would be surprized if a court/judge would take it into account as being 'joint' or 'equal' debt. As Cabrinha says, it will probably depend what the ex's loans were for.