Marriage & responsibility for partners debts??

paddyblue

Hi,

I'm not sure if there is a Gov web-site to answer my query so i'll post the question here & hopefully someone can point me in the right direction....

I'm looking for advice on what happens to someone's debts when they get married.
For instance - if you have a bucket load of cash in the bank & you get married - your new husband/wife will be entitled to a large chunk of that nest-egg...yes?

But what happens if it's the other way around...
Eg - You have a property that is quite heavily morgaged. You then get married to someone who has no large debts/morgage. Is that person now partly responsible for your morgage? It would seem only fair given that they would automatically inherit part of the house.

Also, what would happen if (after you wed your beloved) you unfortunately lost your job, were unable to re-pay your morgage, had the house re-possesed & were presented with a large bill by the banks/courts.... Would your new husband/wife be forced to pay part of this bill if you were unable to? ie - would the courts take into consideration your partners income/personal savings etc when deciding your schedule of payments to be made to the banks after the re-possession took place? Or would their decision be based only on your own personal savings/income?

Forgive me if i'm not very clear with this or being ignorant about something obvious - any advice is appreciated.

Wantobe

paddyblue wrote: »

Hi,

I'm not sure if there is a Gov web-site to answer my query so i'll post the question here & hopefully someone can point me in the right direction....

I'm looking for advice on what happens to someone's debts when they get married.
For instance - if you have a bucket load of cash in the bank & you get married - your new husband/wife will be entitled to a large chunk of that nest-egg...yes?

No, not necessarily.

But what happens if it's the other way around...
Eg - You have a property that is quite heavily morgaged. You then get married to someone who has no large debts/morgage. Is that person now partly responsible for your morgage? It would seem only fair given that they would automatically inherit part of the house.

No, not unless you subsequently take out a joint mortgage.

Also, what would happen if (after you wed your beloved) you unfortunately lost your job, were unable to re-pay your morgage, had the house re-possesed & were presented with a large bill by the banks/courts.... Would your new husband/wife be forced to pay part of this bill if you were unable to? ie - would the courts take into consideration your partners income/personal savings etc when deciding your schedule of payments to be made to the banks after the re-possession took place? Or would their decision be based only on your own personal savings/income?

To a certain extent joint income might be taken into account in this scenario because you would be( presumably) living together, sharing bills which would therefore affect the net income of the debtor. However only to that extent and the non-debtor spouse would have a clear case to make that their savings/assets in their sole name should not be taken into account.

Forgive me if i'm not very clear with this or being ignorant about something obvious - any advice is appreciated.

As above.