Becca wrote to me through the GetOutOfDebt.org site and asked the following question. If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.
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“Dear Steve,
My husband and I are in the process of a divorce. I have a credit card in my name only that has a a large amount of debt on it. In our divorce settlement he is accepting 80% of this debt responsibility (he knows it is his fault it is on there). What is the best way for this to get completely out of my name as I know how he is with money and I don’t want my credit ruined. Right now we both have great scores.
How do I get the debt my husband is accepting responsibility for out of my name?
Becca”
The Answer:
Dear Becca,
The answer is, you don’t.
When you divorce your spouse you don’t divorce your creditors. The only way for him to get his name off the account would be for him to get a new loan and pay off the old card.
A creditor is not going to let a responsible party of a bill with a balance.
Divorce situations frequently don’t turn out all that well when one spouse is supposed to pay the credit card bill of the other. The divorce agreement often creates a bitter pill to swallow for the spouse that is now supposed to pay and payments arrive late or not at all. Then what I see is the spouse that was supposed to pay it, goes bankrupt, and in your case the entire balance will land on you.
My advice is to monitor your credit card online to make sure the payment was received as expected. If you can, setup email alerts from your credit card company to notify you of a bill due so you can monitor it.
