If you were living together but never married or formed a civil partnership, loans and liabilities are the sole responsibility of the person in whose name they are in and the other partner has no legal obligation to help the other meet these.
For married couples and civil partners, all debts and liabilities, including those that are in your spouse or partner's name should be taken into account when deciding the financial agreements that need to be put in place. Your spouse or civil partner may ask you to help pay the debts until you agree a settlement - see Temporary agreements.
If you are facing a debt crisis - for example, you can no longer afford to pay your mortgage or your credit card debts have got out of hand, get help as soon as possible. Speak to the mortgage lender, credit card company or other lender and explain the situation as they may be able to help rearrange the schedule of payments. See Dealing with debt for what you can do and the help available to you, or Mortgage arrears.
