MONEY MATTERS

MY husband came to live in my house when we were married 16 years ago. He only ever gave me housekeeping money, never contributed towards the mortgage, and has now run up debts of £10,000. My divorce papers are about to come before the court. When will I find out how much, if anything, I have to pay my husband, and when can I change the locks? THE court won’t become involved in sorting out your finances unless asked to do so by either one of you. If your husband wants some money from you, and you don’t agree, he will have to apply to the court for a financial relief hearing. Your assets will be divided according to a number of factors: the needs of the parties, the length of the marriage, contributions made and so on; if debts are considered to be a matrimonial debt, they can also be divided, so if your husband’s debts were incurred while he was living with you, you could be responsible for some of those too. If the property is in joint names your husband will have a right to live in the house until the finances are sorted out; if it is in your sole name he will have a spouse’s right of occupation until the decree absolute. IF it was your tree the logs belong to you. However, your neighbours across the river could ask you for compensation for the damage to their own trees, so unless the wood was very valuable you may be better off letting the matter rest. It’s possible you will receive a bill from the Environment Agency in any case.