Marriage and Debt: Is My Spouse Responsible for my debt?

These days, marriage is about more than just love and commitment-italso about money. When you marry someone, you also marry their money and their debt, which can be quite a shock for uneducated newlyweds.

You’ve just got married and you’re carrying a bit of debt with you into the relationship. Is your spouse responsible for your debt? Thankfully, in most cases the answer is “no” because your spouse doesn’t have anything to do with past debt. However, there are a few situations in which s/he could be held responsible. For example, let’s say that you racked up $10,000 on a credit card that was in your name. When you got married, you added your spouse as a joint account holder, which makes him or her responsible for the debt. If, however, you were to keep the card only in your name until it was fully paid off, your spouse wouldn’t be liable for the debt.In that same situation, if you were to default on the credit card in both of your names, your spouse’s credit rating would take a hit, even if s/he had no knowledge of your delinquency. This is where marriage and debt coincide, and the consequences can be ugly.

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A creditor or debt collector cannot demand payment or threaten to garnish wages of your husband or wife, but there are conditions in which your new spouse would be liable. For example, if you put the spouse’s name on the credit card account as a joint account holder, he or she could be held liable and even if you put his or her name on the card account as a joint account holder after you incurred all of the debt. This is true even if your new spouse had no idea you are about to default on the card or have already defaulted.

Marriage is like a partnership with each of you jointly liable for any debts incurred during the marriage. It doesn’t matter if your spouse is or isn’t listed on the card as a joint account holder, he or she can still be sued; have his wages garnished, etc., just as if he incurred the debt.

The United States legal system is tricky where this is concerned. Debt incurred outside the marriage does not make your spouse accountable, but any loans or lines of credit obtained during the marriage make both partners liable.

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