If you are like many people in America, you have at least one credit card. If you are married, together you and your spouse may have multiple cards with varying balances on them. Your spending habits may be different than your spouses and may even contribute to problems in your marriage. If you are getting divorced, you will need to figure out which person ends up with what debts as well as what assets.
Paying off debt during or before divorce
U.S. News and World Report explains that when deciding how to attempt to collect on a debt, a lender or creditor will look at the name or names on the account. Any person named as an account owner may be pursued for repayment. This means even if your divorce decree says that your former partner is responsible for a specific credit card balance, the creditor may try to collect a past due amount from you if your name is still on the account. For this reason, couples are encouraged to pay off any joint debt before their divorce is final.
Transfer debt unable to be paid
If you cannot pay a debt in full before a divorce is complete, you may consider requiring the other person to transfer debt assigned to them into a new account in their name only.
If you would like to learn more about how you may be able to most effectively protect yourself against future financial problems due to your former spouse, please feel free to visit the debt and divorce page of our Mississippi family law website.