Savings, Debt, and Car Ownership

[Anani]

Hi everyone,
I’m currently in the process of getting a divorce. I’ve applied as a sole applicant — my husband reluctantly agrees to it, but he doesn’t want to be actively involved.

At the moment, we’re having some disagreements regarding finances. There isn’t a lot to divide, but I want to make sure things are handled fairly.

We don’t have a house, so that part is simple.

We do have a car — it’s registered in my name, I’m the legal owner, and I’ve been paying for it for the past four years. My husband is now saying he wants half of the car’s value, even though he hasn’t contributed financially towards it.

We also have some savings that were meant to go towards a house deposit. He opened an ISA account (the kind where the government adds a bonus for first-time buyers), and I agreed to transfer a set amount of money to him each month to be added into that account.

Now, during the divorce, he’s told me that he has £8,000 in debt that I never knew about. I only knew about a £2,000 overdraft that he used for his mother’s surgery — nothing else. He claims he spent the additional £6,000 “for us” (for example, renting cars on holidays and similar things), and now insists that the debt is ours and that I should help him pay it.

He’s refusing to divide the savings equally and wants to use that money to pay off his debt instead. He also wants me to give him money for half of the car.

I’d really appreciate any advice or guidance on whether he has any legal claim to:

1. Half of the car (in my name, fully paid by me)

1. Using our shared savings to pay off his personal debt

1. Claiming that his £8,000 debt is a joint responsibility

Thank you so much for reading — I’m just trying to understand what’s fair a
nd what my rights are here.

Check with a Solicitor but the car is yours and the debt is his I would say.

The above is clearly wrong.

Start with working the total assets you have between you and considering what 50% of that would look like. That's your starting point.

Just because you paid for the car from your wages, that just means you had less to put towards the joint expenses. Similarly with the debt, he clearly paid for more joint expenses.

The fairest thing is clear the debt and anything left split 50:50

sorry I meant morally, I have no idea about the legal position, which is why I said get legal advice

you are married so the savings and debt are both yours. Did he have use of the car?

In my divorce the car was also in my name and I paid the load off therefore I kept it (he had use of a works van so I argued he didn’t need half of mine)

some debt was marital - I agreed to take the majority of it on being the higher earner (and looked better as I was claiming majority of house equity and keeping all my pension) but the credit cards in his name I argued was his sole responsibility as I never saw the statements and he couldn’t prove anything he had bought with it has been for the benefit of both of us