Assets - different treatment my insolvency and divorce

[WiseBiscuit]

This is something that I can’t seem to get my head around, so just wondered if anyone with the right legal knowledge can explain.

It’s not a current situation, it’s recently historical.

A husband goes bankrupt, he lives with his wife and the deeds and mortgage are wife’s name only as are savings. After a lot of questions insolvency service decides the house and savings are not marital assets and the wife keeps them all. The insolvency service takes nothing. Bankruptcy is discharged as usual after a year and life moves on.

The house and mortgage and savings are still in the wifes name only but in divorce they are marital assets. Why is there a distinction? You’d think the husband either has a claim or doesn’t and it shouldn’t be interchangeable? I’d love to understand why as it irritates me. But as I say, no live case.

Insight welcome!

Sorry typo in subject, should be “by” not “my”. I am not the insolvent one.

It is because the debt is not yours. However, marriage means that if you divorce, assets, regardless of whose name they are in, will be split between the couple on a "fair" basis.

No that isn’t the issue. The debt wasn’t joint but normally joint assets can still be taken so often married couples lose their home if one party becomes bankrupt.

In this case the husband proved he had no right to the house to the insolvency service (although he paid half the mortgage) but in divorce claimed it was half his which is the bit that doesn’t make sense to me. It’s having your cake and eating it.

The creditors lost out to the tune of several hundred k.

The trustee in bankruptcy didn't decide the assets weren't marital. They decided the assets were not jointly owned.

"marital assets" as a concept is relevant for divorce proceedings but not insolvency.