Your spouse has debt you did not know about — what you are liable for in the UAE, and the first week

In the UAE, a debt belongs to the person whose name is on it. A husband or wife is not liable for the other's loan, card or mortgage by marriage; they become liable only if they signed as a guarantor for that debt, handed over a security cheque for it, or share a joint account, where the banks' own terms make every holder liable for everything owed on it. If you have just found statements you did not know existed, the first week is a list, not a payment, and this guide is the list.

Whose debt it is

The principle is stated the same way by the lawyers who practise here and by the UAE press: the person whose name is on the debt is liable for it, and a spouse is held accountable only if they signed as guarantor or presented a security cheque to the bank for that debt. Leaders Advocates puts it in contractual terms: liability follows the loan, guarantee, card or mortgage agreement, not the marriage, and a spouse who did not sign does not become liable because of the marriage. The firm cites Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law 41 of 2024, the Personal Status Law, for the rule that each spouse has separate financial liability.

Three situations change the answer:

The joint account: the one place it becomes yours

Read your bank's terms for a joint account. Emirates NBD's general terms say each joint account holder is jointly and severally liable to the bank for repayment of all liabilities under the joint account, and that one holder's liability is not affected by any arrangement the bank makes with another. FAB's say the same, and add that the bank is entitled to apply any credit balance on a joint account in satisfaction of liabilities due from all or any one of the joint account holders.

Two consequences, both urgent:

• If your salary lands in a joint account at a bank he owes, the bank may set that balance against his debt. Open or use an account in your sole name for your salary.
• If there is a joint overdraft or a joint card, its balance is yours as much as his, whoever spent it.

A joint account at a bank he does not owe is not reachable by the other banks without a court order.

The first week

1. The list. From the statements: every creditor, the balance, the monthly payment, the due date, and whose name is on the agreement. Add the money owed to his brother or to friends; it is a debt too, and it is the one most likely to be hidden.
2. Your three checks. For each line: did you sign a guarantee, did you give a cheque, is it a joint account. If the answer to all three is no, the line is his.
3. Your own money. Move your salary and savings into accounts in your sole name at a bank where neither of you owes. This is not an accusation; it is the bank's own terms applied.
4. The household. Rent, school fees, food and the money sent home keep moving from your money and his salary. A debt that is not yours is not paid from the money that is.
5. The conversation with him, with the list. The questions are the ones in the timeline guide: which debts are overdue, which have a legal notice behind them, which have a security cheque, and whether any bank has been written to. The deferment and settlement guides are for him to use, because he is the borrower.

What a bank or collector may and may not do to you

A collector may contact you. Lawyers note that when money is not recoverable from the borrower, banks and agencies may try to contact related people, including the spouse; the debt remains the borrower's. What a collector may not do is threaten you, call your employer, or claim you owe what you do not; the collectors guide sets out the Central Bank's rules and the complaint guide the two steps if a line is crossed. A travel ban or a case is sought against the borrower, under the 2022 Civil Procedures Law, not against the person married to them.

Frequently asked questions

I co-signed the car loan. What does that mean?

If you signed the facility as a co-borrower or guarantor, you are liable for that loan in full, not half. The other loans he took alone remain his. The salary assignment guide explains what a bank can take from a salary once a case exists, and it applies to any borrower whose name is on the agreement.

We have a joint mortgage. Is that different?

A joint mortgage is a joint debt, and both names owe it; the property is the security. If one spouse dies, the surviving spouse remains liable for the outstanding balance on a jointly owned, mortgaged property, which is why lawyers point at mortgage protection insurance. A divorce does not remove a name from the facility; only the lender can.

Does divorce split the debts?

No. Liability follows the contract, not the marriage, so each debt stays with the name on it, and a joint one stays joint until the lender agrees to a change. Family-law claims between spouses, such as maintenance, are separate matters with their own rules.

Can I see his AECB report?

No; a credit report is personal and obtained by the person it is about, through UAE Pass. He can pull his own, and the AECB guide explains how. Your own report will show only what is in your name, which is the quickest confirmation of what you are and are not on.

What if some of the debt is to his family?

Money owed to a brother or a friend has no contract and no bank behind it, and it is still his. It belongs on the list because it decides the month; it does not change your liability.

Sources, and when we last read them

Every figure in this guide comes from one of the sources below. The date is when we last read the guide against them. Rules and fees change without notice, so if a number matters to a decision, open the primary page before you rely on it.

When the list is the first thing you have done together

The night you found the statements, the debt was a secret. The week after, it is a list with names on each line, and the law says which lines are yours. Hisab holds the list for both of you, ranks what to deal with first, and drafts the letters to the banks in whichever language the borrower writes in. Free, no account, records on your phone.

Get the app — free →