The debts that are incurred during your marriage must be split up during a divorce, just the same as the assets that you gained. All of this is done through the property division process. You should make sure that you think carefully about the settlement you agree to because it can seriously impact your future.
When you and your ex agreed to the debt, whether it is a credit card, a car payment or something else, you entered into a contract with the creditor. The creditor can hold you to that contract. It doesn’t matter what is agreed to in the divorce. This is because your divorce is an agreement between you and your ex only. The creditor wasn’t part of the civil proceeding.
You need to think about how the debt will affect your future if your ex doesn’t pay. Unless your ex is a financially responsible person who will abide by the terms of the divorce, there is a chance that the payments to the creditor won’t be made. This could affect your credit score.
One option that can help you address issues with your ex not paying is to insist that all debts be moved into a contract that has only the liable person’s name on it. This means moving debts you are responsible for into your name only and having your ex move debts he or she is responsible for into only his or her name.
When you and your ex are dividing property, you can use the debts to offset any differences in the assets. These might help to even things out, but you should try to make sure that you don’t get stuck with an unnecessary amount of debt that is going to harm you when you are trying to make ends meet after the divorce.
Source: The Huffington Post, “What Your Divorce Attorney Won’t Tell You About Marital Debt,” Cathy Meyer, accessed March 21, 2018
