When it comes to housework, it still seems that women do more domestic chores than men. However, it now seems an increasing number of women take responsibility for dealing with household paperwork too.
A survey by Gorvins solicitors and Families Online has found that 46 per cent of women take sole charge of household administration compared to 31 per cent of men. A further 33 per cent admitted to taking an equal role.
It is well documented that despite their increasing role in the workforce, women still do more housework men,
A survey last year by the Office for National Statistics said that, when it came to unpaid chores at home, women were doing almost 40% more than men on average.
Other research has found that most mothers still tend to take responsibility for the majority of the childcare too.
Yet it seems that the typically male role of managing the family money no longer lives up to the term husbandry, with so many more women taking charge of making payments for domestic bills.
Nicola McInnes, Head of Family Law at Gorvins Solicitors points out that it is vitally important that both spouses understand what`s involved in domestic finances. “It’s really important that both partners know what is happening in family finances. If there is a sudden change in domestic circumstances and only one spouse is on top of bills and administration, the other party is constantly playing catch up.
“And having a joint account isn’t enough; I have had clients who have been unaware of the debts run up by their partners – including thousands of pounds of gambling debts. But because the debt happened during the marriage its hard for this not to be taken into account when dividing up assets in a subsequent divorce.`
Colleague Christine Thornley, Partner and Head of the Wills, Trusts and Probate team at Gorvins added that there had been cases her team had been involved in cases after clients have discovered after their partner has died that that their other half had racked up thousands of pounds worth of debt on credit cards and had creditors pursing them.
She added: “If a couple are aware of how the household is run from a financial point of view there will be no surprises if something happens to one party and the surviving party won’t be left wondering whether the house is insured, who supplies the gas and whether or not the mortgage is being paid.”