My wife moved out in 2009. At time we had joint debt including car, 2 lines of credit at bank, daughters College Loan, I pay healthcare cost for kids. We had no agreement. I made all payments. Incomes are ~100K for me and 72K for her. Should these be included in equitable distribution?
Yes, martial debts are part of he distribution and should be allocated equitably; your incomes are a factor the court can consider in the allocation of property and debts.
What happens if one party invested in large purchases without any knowledge of the other party. At the point which the item “appeared” at the home ATV, Boat, Guns, Large Lots of Wine they were said to have been paid for with cash. Later it was discovered they were items that were charged on credit cards. Later it was told to me that money from our savings was used to pay off those debts. However they obviously weren’t applied there becuase the savings are gone, but the balances are still on the credit cards.
There has been so much debt accrued from my spouses personal hobbies. None of which are items that benefit the household other than himself. So when the assets are divided am i going to assume 50% of the debt for these items. I haven’t had a job for the past 2 years and just took a new job at a much lower earning/commission. Nervous about how this will end.
The debts will likely be considered martial, most that are incurred during the marriage are (unless incurred to further an affair). This does not mean that the judge will not consider all the facts surrounding the circumstances of the purchases however, and can make an unequal distribution of property (less or none of that debt to you) if he or she finds it equitable to do so.