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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

My husband makes no money and lies about it all the time. I am de facto the breadwinner.

37 replies

Dhamma1980 · 07/11/2014 02:06

This would not be bad in and of itself but I simply don't trust him any more. Also I am pregnant with twins and I simply in 2 months will have no income but the ridiculous maternity allowance that barely pays for nappies. But worst of all, by far, is that I can't trust my own husband. This started on day one of our marriage when without telling me he paid for most of his extended family's attendance of our wedding, which took place in Poland. I thought we agreed we pay for the party and the accommodation, for one night but he apparently paid for much more. My parents paid most of the costs, I paid 3 grand and he paid 6 grand and I thought that was it. But it looks like in addition he paid for a lot more. Since he has 10 brothers and sisters and they all have families the expense must have been astronomical, how much, I will never know. Then he worked as a consultant and seemingly made good money, so much so that for 2 years I did not have to pay a mortgage and house bills and I only paid for our food, holidays, petrol, clothes etc, which roughly amounted to 2/3 of what he paid for. Then one day he announced he has (surprise, surprise) 30.000 pounds tax bill to pay from his previous company that allegedly was stolen from him by the umbrella company that also conned " thousands" of contractors, only he did not remember the name of that company and for 4 years since refused to give me any details. Then he was unemployed for a year and spent this year doing nothing but whining and blaming me for putting him under pressure. In the meantime I was working full time to keep us going, doing 5 ivf attempts ( he is infertile) and working until,1 am after my usual work to do my post grad training, which I managed to complete through bitter hard struggle after 5 years. He, on the other hand has been telling me about exams he needs to pass for 5 years plus and so far has passed not a single one, despite having a year off effectively. He did finally find a job a year ago, and was in a series of short time gigs but contributed no more than 500 pounds a month to our budget. I was paying the other 1600 or so,in different expenses and mortgage/bills. The rest of his salary went on more mysterious tax bills. Now for the last 4 months he has moved to another town and apparently makes good money ( about 4 grand net a month) but I see none of it because it is all to pay more of his overdue taxes, so he says. He still refuses to disclose where this money is going but I do get letters from HMRC threatening fines if this or that does not get paid. But if he pays taxes all the time what happens to the rest of his income? He refused to show me his accounts after 5 years of marriage and I am in complete dark. Through my determination and paid for by my money alone and we also got a cycle from
NHS I did finally get pregnant. But this means I will have no income and we also live in a shoebox where there is no room for twins. We desperately need a bigger house and I even managed to save for down payment ( the flat he bought at the top of the market in 2007 is close to negative equity so,no money from sale here) but I am worried about entering in any financial arrangements with my own husband, because I don't trust him, including buying a property together. I wanted to put the savings I made against the mortgage we have on the shoebox we live in (on which I paid full mortgage for 2 years although I have no ownership claim) so at least the mortgage is smaller but he did not sort out the paperwork that would give me ownership rights to part of it, despite having promised to. I simply don't know what to do. Given lack of trust and the fact he may have more mysterious skeletons in his financial closet I am not putting a penny of my life savings on a property that is in his name alone and that is not suitable for the twins I am expecting anyway. I don't know what to do because if he simply refuses to show me his accounts or add my name to the flat then there is nothing I can do. Does anyone have any advice? I can't afford to buy a bigger house for the twins on my own and the savings I made through the years are not enough for a substantial down payment. Worst of all there is breakdown of trust in my marriage that is undermining its very foundation. I am exhausted from working like a slave 12 hour days in late pregnancy, because I can't afford to go on maternity leave - I work in private sector and there are no cushy provisions for pregnant women. It is strictly the minimum statutory leave/pay. I just see no future for us, and I told my husband that if he can't manage to run a limited company which seems to be like a tax black hole that is dragging us down rather than giving us income he should get a normal job. But the truth is simply I don't know if it is taxes to what else that have swallowed 75% of his income in the last 2 years since he got a job and before. There were a few other incidents on top when he said he needed 5 grand for this tax and another 5 for another but I did not even mention it. The fact is he never recovered after the 30K "tax" debacle 4 years ago and I don't know even if this was about tax or someone conned him otherwise. He is very easy to con and gullible and gets ripped off on everything he buys. But he won't accept my device with catastrophic financial consequences. The flat he bought in 2007 was a cheaply built new build, fitted with the cheapest, worst quality materials and with a massive leak in the roof which only became apparent after he spent 2 grand or so of his own money finding out where the water is coming from, rather than claim insurance. He refused to have me handle this which lost us probably 20.000 pounds because rather than claiming insurance on the massive damage ( half of the floor space was rotten and we had to rip it out and replace) he decided to handle it his way. I put about 10 grand into the refurb as well because we had to rip out bathrooms which were leaking and replumb. So this flat effectively with all the work cost us about 24Ok but it's current value after sales costs is about 160 k of which 90 percent is outstanding mortgage. So the 10k that would be left from sale of the flat is the net wealth my husband managed to build at the age of 44 and he only managed to keep the flat because I was paying the living costs for 5 years and all of the mortgage for 2 years. I just feel there is no way i can build any nest for the twins with my husband hemorrhaging money like this left right and centre. Thank goodness I kept my account separate after marriage or the saving I made would be gone too since it really all we have now.

OP posts:
Dhamma1980 · 06/01/2015 01:41

Hello and thank you. Some pertinent questions were raised like IVF. I was desparately for a child having been 38 and 5 years married. Also my dh lies only started to unravel in the last 2 years. I took his explanations at face value. True, he ran out of money on our honeymoon and I have been picking the tab ever since but there were a few instances when he actually paid for something like a car that he paid for 16k cash ( against my advice) with tax money that I told him not to spend in lump sum but rather get a loan at 3 percent. But altogether the financial contribution I have made over the years to our budget is overwhelming. Although I am on good salary of 65 k before tax most, about 40 after, of the money got eaten up just paying astronomical housing bill on his house, food ( he never paid anything in 5 years), flights, holidays, clothes, ivf treatment etc. I managed to save 60 k on my private account by denying myself any luxuries, cooking LIDL food from scratch rather than going to restaurants. Another good point - how do I know what he makes. I don't is the simple answer. Again I took what he said at face value. I think the core of the matter is that I rushed into this marriage. I ignored the red flags ( like that he was untidy, and so was most of his family and generally did not have the aspirations I had). He insists he has aspirations but in words only and no deeds. I used to go running for example whether it was cold, wet or whatever because I have discipline. He always has a reason not to excercise. I managed to finish my post grad training while working full time while he has not completed a single certification in a year of being unemployed and having time on his hand.
The reason I am still with him is that he seems like a good man who would not hurt a fly and I had my share of bad men before. So I thought kind heart is the most important. But how kind is keeping your pregnant wife in the dark about finances and making her pay for everything kind? Housework wise I have to ask him 10 times to do the slightest chore and then he still won't do it until I shout and make a row which I hate. Financially I would have been a lot better off without him but I fear the lengthy custody battle for kids and that he demands alimony after living off me for a better part of 5 years. Thank goodness I am Polish and can send my savings there where thankfully we have separation of assets but that's about it. I will get nothing else and may be liable for alimony too. I also worry about the influence his laziness and untidy ness / pessimism/ blame would have on kids. His family all live in dilapidated houses that look like pigsties in my eye, as I was raised according to tidy ness is next to godliness principle. His staring at televised football for 13 hours straight at weekends is a major turnoff when I try to spend time with utility, working, doing sports, studying, running the house. Major rifts in our values are appearing after I chose to take off my rose tinted glasses that helped me explain his every little lie and shortcoming away. I just think he is not as ambitious as me and not only does he lack basic money management skills but he is lazy and whatever problem he has he throws the little money he has at, rather than find a way to save it for example by doing some work himself around the house. Needless to say he has 2 left hands and can fix nothing so we have to pay for basic work like changing tiles on a tiny piece of floor which any halfwit man should know how to do! There is about 16 square feet of these tiles for goodness sake. I paid for fixing the bathroom with my own money but these have burst and need fixing. This is the minimum he should do. Today after 2 months of my sleeping about 3 hours per night ( the pregnancy caused horrible insomnia) and 2 days before planned birth he would not drive with me to hospital because he is exhausted. I apparently was not exhausted and in a good shape to drive. I had to park risking a ticket close to the clinic because I could not walk far from the big parking as I am so heavy and short of breadth with twins. Right now all I worry about are twins. But then I am considering different options like moving out and filing for divorce. I don't want this for my kids but also I want to I still values in my kids like hard work, honesty, cleanliness, getting things finished, doing sports/ fitness, passion for learning and I fear my husbands passion for spending entire days reading football gossip is not conducive to this goal. Thank you all for reading and advice.

OP posts:
NeedABumChange · 06/01/2015 02:02

Sorry but why didn't you leave when you found out he lied about flying TEN families to Poland and I'm guessing paying their accommodation too?

Also it sounds really rude to criticise gammer but please use paragraphs, it's very hard to read your posts.

ArtVandelay · 06/01/2015 07:00

Honestly Needabum, the OP has English as a second language, is in the final stages of a twin pregnancy and is upset. How mean are you?! You misspelled 'grammar' tut tut :)

OP, good luck with your birth - any chance of getting you mum, sister or someone to help you for a few weeks after the birth? Seems like you need a plan to leave. Is your H also Polish? You should research which country is more favourable to you in divorce and then file there. I'm assuming you want rid of him from what you've said.
I think it best to arrange to get help in now so that you can enjoy your first precious weeks with your twins but also be able to work your way through the maze of leaving him. If he is already working away then he can stay away and have appropriate contact with the babies. He might turn out to be a great Dad - you never know! Good luck with it all.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 06/01/2015 08:59

This is going to sound clinical but I think, if you've basically got what you want out of the arrangement i.e. the children, then you should dispense with the husband. Get legal advice, take your share of the marital assets, set up a contact schedule and maintenance arrangement etc. Clean break. Being a lone parent from birth is challenging (I know, I have done it) but it is far less stressful than the living conditions you describe.

Cabrinha · 06/01/2015 09:23

Any halfwit man should know how to fix floor tiles? Hmm

If it's that easy, why didn't you do it? (Though not obviously in late stage of pregnancy with twins)

I'm also Hmm that you complain about "ridiculous" maternity allowance. I think it's bloody good to get £140 a week when you have AMPLE opportunity to save, earning £65K. That £140 can be a full income to some, but nice extra coffee and cake money for you.

Good luck with the birth of your twins, but once you've got through the fog of them arriving, I think it is absolutely clear what you need to do.

I don't blame you for hiding your assets, I'd do it too... but given you were happy to pay only 2/3 of bills when he was earning more, it is perhaps a bit unfair.

He does sound like a walking disaster though.

IthoughtATMwasacashpoint · 06/01/2015 09:43

There is one bit of your post I don't understand.

You say for the last 4 months he has moved to another town. Is this just for work or does he not actually live with you any more?

3WiseMenOr1WiseWoman · 06/01/2015 09:44

Are you both Polish living in the UK, married in the UK/Poland?

If this is the case you need specialist legal advice with regards to divorce procedure - assets, child maintenance, pensions, domicile of assets etc...

I'm assuming this is the end of the line for you. If you get the advice you can better assess your situation.

By the sounds of it, I would push for a 'clean break' divorce. I wouldn't rely on him for child maintenance or division of assets at some point in the distant future.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 06/01/2015 10:18

There's a difference between relying on someone for maintenance etc and having it ordered a part of the divorce. Always best to be self-sufficient but it has to be documented that he takes responsibility for his children, even if he welches on it. The asset division is a one-off thing.

PatriciaHolm · 06/01/2015 12:19

You clearly have no respect for him at all, and no love. Surely seperation is the obvious answer? Why all the extended angst?

RatherEmbarassed · 06/01/2015 17:30

I find reading this incredibly frustrating, I want to offer comfort and support but find myself getting angry that you have got yourself into this situation and aren't seeming to do anything active to get out of it. You clearly have nothing but disdain for the man so I can't fathom why you aren't breaking free.

earplugsahoy · 06/01/2015 18:50

To be on a salary of 65k per year you must be a pretty smart individual.

Surely you can see he is taking you for a fool?

Those poor babies being brought into such a situation, whilst i appreciate you wanted a baby surely this situation has been happening for a long time before? Why would you have a baby (2!!) with him?

Laquitar · 06/01/2015 20:53

Just reading your post made me stressed on your behalf.
It must be extremely stressfull to live like this. Single with twins won't be easy either but tbh it can not be harder than this. At least you will know exactly what your income is, what your expenses are and you can plan your life.

You have a good job, your problem will be childcare cost. Is any possiblity that your parents could move here for a year or so if they are retired?

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