Your partner is not liable to pay any debt in your name. This means they do not have to help you pay your debt management plan. However, they can help with the payments if they want.

Included in this article:

• Will your partner have make payments into your DMP?
• Can your partner pay the Plan on your behalf?
• What happens to any joint debts you both have?

Want help to start a debt management plan? Give us a call (0800 077 6180) or complete the form below to speak to us

Will your partner have to make payments into your debt management plan?

Your partner (or spouse if you are married) is not legally obliged to pay your debt. If you can’t afford to pay what you owe, they do not somehow become liable. As such, if you start a debt management plan (DMP), they don’t have to help you pay it.

In addition to not having to pay into your Plan, they do not have to give your creditors any information about their income or other circumstances.

That said, when setting up your plan, you will have to provide your creditors with your income and expenses budget. This shows them how much you can afford to pay.

The easiest way to do this is to complete a household budget including both you and your partner’s income and expenses combined. The surplus is then split between you. You offer to pay your share into your Plan.

If your partner does not want to disclose their income, you can still go ahead with a DMP. You just complete an income and living expenses budget using only your income and living expenses payments.

Can your partner pay the Plan on your behalf?

Once it is set up, it does not really matter who pays your debt management plan. As long as they receive the agreed payments each month, your creditors will not care who the payment comes from.

This means you can still start a Plan even if you have little or no income at all. Your partner can go ahead and pay it on your behalf.

When you set up the Plan, you simply state that given your income is insufficient to support a reasonable monthly payment, your partner is going to pay for you. They can choose to pay as much as they like from a minimum of £100 upwards. Most (if not all) of your creditors will accept this.

You should still present your own income and expenses budget even if your income is just a small monthly benefit payment and the only expenses you have are your mobile phone. This simply helps your creditors understand that you are unable to afford to pay your debt.

Your partner could pay off your debt by offering a lump sum payment to your creditors. The funds required to do this don’t have to come from you.

What happens to joint debts if you start a debt management plan?

If you choose to add a joint debt into your debt management plan. your partner remains liable for 100% of the outstanding balance – not just half of it. This is the case even if the creditor agrees to the Plan. Your DMP does not protect them.

Your partner must continue maintaining the full monthly payment towards the joint debt. If they don’t, the creditor will start collections action against them.

Of course, given your partner has to keep paying the debt anyway, one option is to simply leave it out of your Plan. An advantage of doing this is the debts you do include will be repaid faster because the money you pay in each month will be shared across fewer accounts.

If your partner can’t afford to keep up any joint debt payments, you might both need to start a joint DMP. All of your combined debts (including any in joint names) would then be covered with a single affordable monthly payment.

Need more advice about starting a debt management plan? Give us a call (0800 077 6180) or complete the form below. Its free and confidential.