Is a wife responsible for a husband's debt?

[redirish28]

My wife's friend is in a situation right now where her husband got credit cards in his name only and hasn't made payments. The friend and the husband is no longer living together and she gets a rather rude call from a credit card company demanding that she pay.


Is she resonsible for her debt that she had no clue about?

[asthmaticeog]

1. It depends on what state they live in. She should call a lawyer. nt

[Deja Q]

2. Possibly.

Of course, the man shouldn't be racking up that much debt in the first place.

A pity she didn't get a divorce beforehand, but if he started getting and using the cards while they were separated, she might have a case.

Sounds like the guy is a real nasty piece of work.

[redirish28]

3. What about before the seperation? He got the cards and hid all statements from her

How is it all right for someone to be responsible for something he did when she had no clue. If it was something that came to the house with his name she never opened it. It was HIS mail.

[skygazer]

6. Same way a person can take half of their spouse's property when they divorce

It's called community property and it means that when you're married, unless you have a specific prenuptual agreement, all your property is jointly owned.

However, that depends on the state in which they live. The only way to find out is to get some legal advice in that state.

People are so naive about marriage (that's not directed at you personally, by the way). They think its just about how much they love each other. Marriage is a legal and binding contract and people should be well aware of what that means before they do it.

[SeattleGirl]

4. Depends on whether they live in a community property state. n/t

[The Straight Story]

5. In most cases, yes :)

:hide:

[libodem]

7. What a stone cold drag

sometimes even if, the Judge in a divorce hearing, assigns the debt to one spouse specifically as soul and separate, the credit card companies still go after the other person when the deadbeat won't pay. The debt is generally considered community property. I once had a utility company come after me for my ex-husbands bill and shut me off with two toddlers and a new baby in the house.

[Crazy Dave]

9. Creditors are not binded to what a judge orders in a divorce

Sure the judge can order one person to pay the debt but the creditors cannot be ordered to accept that order. They have nothing to do with people's divorces and they're still entitled to collect their money. I've seen it happen too many times to too many people.

Woman: "My husband was ordered by the judge to pay off all our autos"

Creditor: "Well he was ordered to pay, he didn't, the loan was in both of your names so now you have to pay"

Seriously, how could any court force a bank to forgive a loan because one party who was supposed to make payments didn't? It would have to involve a whole separate court case where the couple would have to take the creditor to court and have a judge make the bank accept the new terms. Very unlikely to happen.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. If you mean legally responsible, it depends on her state - tell her to ask a lawyer, not DU.

If you mean ethically or morally responsible, that's a big question with many different views, especially depending on which use of the word "responsible" we're using.

But it sounds like you mean "legally", and in that case, as others have said and I said in the subject line - her only place to find an answer is with a lawyer.