Divorce & Separation


Contents

Overview

When you're going through a separation or divorce it can be very stressful & often means your financial situation is affected. In certain circumstances your contractual liabilities can become unmanageable when you separate your finances. It's therefore really important that you seek some help on you financial options before a legal settlement.

Conflict of Interests

When relationships break down, advice agencies are usually unable to advise both parties due to the potential for a conflict of interests. At Money Advice Hub, we make sure that we refer anyone that we can't help to another free debt advice agency to avoid conflicts happening.

Joint Debt Liability

Any joint debts you have with your partner will have joint & several liability. This means that if your partner can’t keep up contractual repayments to the debt, you'll face arrears collections & enforcement of the debt or be asked to repay the amount in full.  


Even when you have sole debts in a relationship, it's worth considering debt & financial options before you reach any legal settlement as this can affect the division of any assets & any future state benefit claims & entitlement.

Checking your Credit Rating

If you don’t have any joint debts you can obtain a ‘notice of disassociation’. This removes any financial link with your ex-partner on your credit file. To do this you need to contact one of the credit reference agencies who can remove the connection.


Please click the title links below, we recommend that you contact all of the companies below:

Call Credit

Equifax

Experian

Joint Tenancy

You may wish to remain in a joint tenancy property, if so, you’ll need to get permission from your landlord to transfer the tenancy into your name only. You might have problems doing this if there any rent arrears & you might need to negotiate terms with your landlord. 

Joint Mortgages

If you’ve got a joint mortgage, it will be difficult to remove your name from it. This is because the borrowing is usually based on joint income & joint liability. 


We recommend you refer to your legal representative, lender & an independent mortgage broker for financial options, let us know if you need help with this. We're able to recommend an independent mortgage broker if required.

Council Tax

If your separation means you’re now the only adult in the property, make sure you tell your local council as you’ll be entitled to a single person's 25% discount on your council tax.


Don't forget to tell the local authority when you move out of a property to remove your liability for council tax.

Your Income

Separation will usually affect your income & living arrangements. This might mean that your benefit entitlement changes. 


You can use our free benefits checker to find out what benefits you can claim & the amounts you’re likely to receive. 

Children

Family break-ups can be hard on children. The Child Maintenance Options website has a variety of tools and guides to help you & your children deal with the separation. 


You can also use the official Gov.UK child maintenance calculator.


You & your ex-partner will also need to arrange child maintenance. Whenever possible it’s always better to try & arrange a family-based agreement. Find out more about divorce & family arrangements from the helpful organisations listed below. 


Divorce Aid are an independent organisation of professionals who can provide divorce advice to anyone in the UK.


Wikivorce is an award winning, not for profit social networking resource with useful help & information guides & tools.


Hand in Hand is a charity offering support & information to parents, they provide useful information on helping children cope with divorce & separation.