Can i be liable for my husbands debt

But if you fail to pay the debt and the credit card company comes after your ex-spouse, then your ex-spouse can sue you for violating the divorce decree and seek reimbursement for any damages suffered.

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Grow Your Legal Practice. Meet the Editors. Find out when you're liable for your spouse's credit card debt. Whether you might be responsible for this debt depends on: where you live whether it's a joint credit card whether you're a cosigner, and whether the debt was assigned to you in a divorce proceeding. Your Liability in Common Law States Most states—called common law states—use common law rules when determining who's liable for a particular debt in a marriage.

Credit Cards That Are In Both Spouses' Names If the debt is for a joint credit card in both your names, then you and your spouse are equally liable for it. Credit Card Cosigners Also, if you're a cosigner on your spouse's credit card, even if it's not a joint account, you're still on the hook.

Additional Rules for Community Property States Certain states—called community property states—follow community property rules instead of the common law when determining which spouse is liable for a particular debt.

Community Debts: Both Spouses Are Equally Liable But in addition, debts incurred by you or your spouse during your marriage, regardless of whose name is on it, are generally deemed to be community debts, and both spouses are considered equally liable. What Is a Community Debt? You have not signed anything involved with this loan. If this creditor gets a judgment and places a lien on your home, it is still effective against your property even though you had nothing to do with the debt. It is possible that the creditor could seize your house and sell it at auction.

In this case, the amount to pay the creditor would usually come out of your spouse's part and you would receive all proceeds for your half of the sale. In the case where spouses file separate tax returns, the same result can happen as in this example. Upsolve Community Member Do I need to report my spouse ' s car even though they are financing it by themselves Hi Amelia, that' s a great question.

This article might help you learn I am 3ngahed and don' t want my fiance responsible for my past debt. Nine American states are community property states.

Community property laws require that any property acquired, debt accumulated, and income earned during the marriage is the property or debt of each spouse.

This community debt includes the spouse's credit card debt. Whether the property is equally owned by each spouse depends on the particular state's law. The common law states require a contractual obligation to the creditor for the person to be responsible for their spouse's debts. In community property states, just being married is enough to be liable for any debt incurred for the family.

It's important to distinguish between debt and property acquired before and after the marriage. In community property states, pre-marriage obligations are not joint. There would be an exception if the non-debtor spouse signs a contract accepting liability for a pre-marriage debt. Gifts given by a person to their spouse, even in a community property state, are not community property.

Moving from a common law state to a community property state and then getting a divorce could mean that debts accumulated since the marriage may now be both spouse's debts even if only one spouse has signed the contract with the creditor. Even moving from one community property state to another can make a big difference. Other community property states will split the debt based on other considerations.

For example, some community property states use the portion of the marital income each spouse earned to determine the percentage each spouse is liable for. An authorized user has no obligation to pay on a credit card account.

They are getting a free ride on your account. You may have an agreement with your spouse that they pay you for the charges they have made on your account. The credit card company still doesn't have a claim against the authorized user spouse since they're not a party to the spousal agreement. They will also harm the authorized user's credit score. Though most of the risk is on the owner of the account, the authorized user does have a risk to their credit report from being on the account.

In the community property states, even if a spouse is only an authorized user, any debts charged to the card after the date of marriage is a joint debt. You have money questions. Bankrate has answers.

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The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way. You may have pledged to take your spouse for better or worse when you married, but does that mean you are responsible for their credit card debt? The answer to that is not ordained in heaven but depends on the more mundane matters of which state you reside in and contractual obligations. Most U. In these 41 states, any assets acquired by one spouse belong solely to them.

On the other hand, in the nine states that go with so-called community law which include Louisiana, Arizona, California, Texas, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin assets acquired in the course of a marriage belong to both spouses. Common law property states regard property acquired by one spouse as belonging to them alone. However, if you are both named as owners, the property would belong to both of you. If your spouse owns a credit card that is solely in their name, you are not liable for their debt.

And if you are a joint account-holder on a credit card, both of you will be liable. You would also be liable if you co-signed the account for them.

In so-called community property law states, assets acquired by any partner to the marriage are considered community property. If debt is incurred in the course of the marriage, it could be considered a community debt for the benefit of the marriage for which you would be held liable too.

Each situation is different, though, and if the state decides that this debt was incurred to benefit the marriage, you might still be held liable with your spouse.

In addition, you would be liable for credit card debts if you are a joint account-holder, or co-signed the account. If you go through a divorce, a court could assign debt to you that you are not originally liable for per the contractual terms of a credit card agreement.