Money or lack thereof, is the most frequently named contributor to divorce. Often heard is the lament: I am responsible with money, you are not - I'm out of here.
If only it were that simple... The filing party may think that the nightmare is over when a judge decrees the other party responsible for the debt - but it doesn't end there.
Credit card companies, for one, will consider BOTH parties individually and separately each wholly responsible for paying off the cards regardless of any findings in divorce court. Any jointly held cards will follow you both into your new lives.
Why?
You agreed as an individual that you are personally responsible for your contractual obligations, no matter what the judge says. You signed a contract that has nothing to do with being married or divorced. The hard fact is that if your ex refuses to make payments, the only way to change that is to sue them!
The best way to completely and finally sever those financial ties, take steps early to completely pay off and close all joint accounts. For any that have a balance, transfer the amount of debt that's "yours" to a new account that you open in your name only. But note that any amount left on a joint card will remain 'yours' regardless.
If you added your spouse as an authorized user to a card, you can have him or her removed any time you want. This is to benefit both of you. If you don't then your ex-spouse could continue to run up debt that you would be responsible for. On the other hand it is an advantage to your ex to be taken off as an authorized user because any late payments YOU make will show up on their credit report.
Sorting out the credit cards (and other shared debt like cars, furniture, etc) may take some real arm-twisting or strength of character, but the sooner it is done the better.
