Most people in America have some form of debt. This may be in the form of a credit card that they use and pay off every month, it may be in the form of a vehicle loan or lease or it may be in the form of a mortgage. Other people utilize unsecured loans to pay medical bills that they then repay over the course of some time. Regardless of the nature and size of the debt, it is one more thing that must be addressed when a married couple gets a divorce.
Debt: Yours, mine and ours
One important place to start when deciding which spouse will have to repay which debt is to determine what debt is joint and what debt is shared. This may be based on which person’s name is on an account, when the debt was incurred relative to the marriage or what the funds were used for. For any joint debt, a good plan must be made for repayment before or after the divorce.
Divorce decrees and creditors
As explained by Bankrate, if one spouse agrees to repay a joint debt, this provision may be included in the divorce decree. If this person fails to pay the debt and the other person’s name remains on the account, the creditor may seek repayment from the other spouse.
This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to give divorcing spouses in Florida an overview of how debt responsibility may be determined during a marital dissolution so they understand the lender or creditor view as well as the divorce court view.