My husband and I are going to separate.

My husband and I are going to separate. We have a joint savings bank account. All our savings are in the account. Should I withdraw all the savings or just half?

Public Answer

Thank you for your enquiry.

If your separation is amicable, you and your husband should talk about what you want to do with the joint savings account. If the separation is amicable and you take all the savings or half the money out of the joint savings account without first discussing your plans with your husband then this may make it harder to reach an agreed financial settlement.

As your savings account is a joint account, either you or your husband could take the savings from the bank account. In addition, if the account has an overdraft facility potentially either of you could take money out on overdraft. This means that if your separation is not amicable your husband could withdraw all the money. If money is taken out on overdraft then because the account is a joint one you and your husband are both jointly and severally liable for the whole of the overdraft.

Accordingly, if there are trust issues between you and your husband and you are worried that the account has an overdraft facility on it you could ask the bank to freeze the account. That means neither one of you could take any money out of the account nor use the overdraft facility until the account is unfrozen.

Whether you should take out money from the joint savings account depends on your detailed personal and financial circumstances. You should therefore take legal advice on your separation, including whether you are both going to continue living at the family home during the divorce proceedings and your financial settlement options. This discussion will help determine what steps you should take about the joint savings account, although if you fear that your husband will quickly withdraw the money without his discussing it first with you then you could chose to freeze the account to preserve the funds and then take legal advice.

You do need family law advice on starting divorce proceedings and your financial settlement options. We would therefore ask you to call us on 0203 959 9123 to arrange an appointment to discuss how we can help you. Please call us.

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