how is previous credit card debt prior to marriage handled if divorced

The divorce court judge can order the debt split to whatever is fair. If the judge orders you to pay a portion of his debt then you are suppose to do so. If you do not then the creditors will only look to your ex since you are not on the account. In that situation your ex could come after you for not following the divorce court judge's ruling.

If the judge orders that he pay the debt and your name is not on the accounts then you do not have anything to worry about.

Now if the credit card debt was his before you got married and you didnt add any debt to that, they you could have an arguement that you should not be liable for that, but it would be up to the judge.

Normally this is not community debt and not usually addressed in the decree except to say that it is his debt.

For fairness sake, if the debts were for things that benefited both of you, he might get an offset against some other debt or a larger portion of some asset.

Feel free to call the office and set up a consultation if you want to discuss this in more detail.


For educational purposes only. No attorney-client relationship was created by this communication.