Credit Card Debt and Divorce |
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by: Janna Weiss
Credit card debt can be stressful enough, but the added stress of divorce can make it all the more horrific. If your marriage is ending, there are some things you should know about credit card debt and divorce. For example: who can be responsible for the credit card debt accumulated before, during, and after the marriage?
When you open a credit card account, you enter into an agreement with the card issuer. You have the right to use the card to make purchases, and the responsibility to pay off the card's balance in a timely manner. This holds true regardless of when the charges were made. Typically, any charges made by one party before the marriage took place will be the legal responsibility of that party.
Some situations are a little trickier. For example, if you're the sole account holder and your spouse is an authorized user, you are responsible for all the charges made to your account by yourself or your spouse. To avoid further charges during and after divorce proceedings, you can simply remove the spouse from your account and ask the card issuer to have their card deactivated.
If your spouse is the account holder and has added you as an authorized user, your spouse is the one who is legally responsible for the account balance. You can dispute any account activity that shows up on your credit report. Contact the credit bureaus and let them know that this is not your account, and that you are disputing the items.
In the case of a joint account, both you and your spouse can be held responsible for the balance. The judge at your divorce hearing might require one of you to pay the full balance, or might split the debt between both parties. Speak with your divorce attorney to figure out how best to proceed.
Your divorce decree might stipulate that one party or the other is responsible for paying off the credit card debt that exists at the time of the divorce. Any charges made to credit card accounts after the divorce will be the responsibility of the account holder.
To avoid making a bad situation worse, speak with your spouse or attorney about your credit card debt before your divorce hearing. Be prepared to provide paperwork and proof of the account’s ownership and purchase history. The more you can do to straighten things out beforehand, the less likely you’ll be held responsible for all of the debt.
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