My husband and I are about to separate in a few weeks. He has a bad track record with managing money and tends to get very close to maxing out credit cards, etc. When I met him he had awful credit, collections, etc. I hope that he has matured somewhat since then, but one can never be too sure. If debt is in his name only (credit cards only his name, bills, etc), can I be legally responsible for anything if he were to fail to pay his bills? For instance, if he doesn’t pay something can debt collectors come after me since we’re married, or am I protected since my name is not on the accounts? Nothing we have is joint… my credit cards and loans are in my name and vise versa. Thanks!
I’M NOT AN ATTORNEY
But it’s my understanding that if the debt was incurred during the marriage, it’s marital debt even if it’s in his name only. Once you separate, any debt that is incurred after the separation is separate to each person. At least that’s what I was told by my attorney.
All debt incurred during the marriage is presumed to be martial and will be distributed equitably as part of equitable distribution. If the court finds that it is not equitable to distribute debt to you because of a spouse’s reckless spending, the court can order that the distribution be unequal (more than 50% of the debt to him.).
The creditors themselves will only go after the party whose name is on the debt, as legally that person is responsible to the creditor.