Division of Debts

I'm still at the finances part of getting divorced, and would be interested to read thoughts on the 4 points listed below...

Person A took out a loan and credit card but did not tell Person B about them during marriage. Person A claims this was to cover shortfalls in finances when money was tight. Person B reluctant to accept this and would like reassurance by asking for receipts for purchases. Person A unable to provide as they say money was taken out at cash machine mostly. Looks certain there is a dispute over the amount of debt accrued due to loan and credit card. Are both parties responsible for this debt? Or does it fall on Person A as they can not provide vouching to prove what the loan and credit card was used for? Would it fall on Person A to repay in entirety because they hid this debt from Person B?

Person A received what they claim to be an unwanted birthday present near time of separation. Despite protests from Person A that they did not want this gift, Person B bought it anyway, but Person B used it 99% of the time. Person B claims this was not a birthday present but something for the family to use together. Person B paid for this on a store card, bought one month before parties separated. Person A disputes that this is marital debt as item was used solely by Person B. Is Person A right?

Person A has a store card. Person B knows about store card but doesn't understand why so much has been spent on it and expected more of it to have been paid off prior to separation. Person B asks for vouching to find out what money was spent on. Is this normal procedure? What if Person A can not show receipts for everything purchased?

Person A owns marital home (in their sole name). House was bought after parties married. Person B stayed in house after separation with children. Says they can not afford to move out. Person A is living with parents as can not afford another house while still paying mortgage for marital home. Person A has stated that solely paying mortgage is unsustainable as they can not afford it. This has continued for over 12 months. Person A has now spent over £8,000 paying mortgage. Person B has not contributed since separation. Could Person A claim this amount back from Person B after house is sold?

These so called situations all exhibit a misunderstanding of how finances are settled upon divorce. Courts are not interested in every detail on a store or credit card. Nor, in general, will they restore money that has been paid on a mortgage.

Broadly the questions will rather be:-

1. How much is available to divide?
2. What are the respective needs and financial resources of person A and B (bearing in mind that the needs of any dependent children come first).

In most cases there is simply not enough money to go around in order to indulge speculations such as the ones raised in this post and rather than explore such by ways a court would be quick to point out that it was a waste of its time to expect it to do so.

For what it is worth the last is probably the most absurd. One parent has the care of dependent children, stays in the former matrimonial home with them and cannot afford to do so without the financial support of the other. The house then gets sold and the paying parent then asks for his/her money back. Really?

Thanks David. It's certainly very helpful to see how solicitors/courts view things as compared to the parties involved in the divorce.

My ex wife ran up a considerable credit card bill that she said was in the main for the maintenance of the family and we ended up splitting it 50/50 although I suspect that there was more hairdressing and shoes on there than big shops at Waitrose. In the end it was not worth arguing over it, I couldn't prove otherwise and it was certainly not worth the hassle of trying to gain the moral high ground if it would cost me more to do it.