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Bills Made During Marriage

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martu

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa

My husband and I are working toward getting a divorce. As a part of the process we are in discussion about division of property. My husband seems to think that bills made during the marriage are his bills and my bills. He does not want to pay what he calls my bills: education, home improvement loans, home depot cc and various other credit cards attained during the marriage to improve our living situation and life together as a married couple. He wants to relieve himself of all responsibility by saying I can have everything including the bills he says are mine alone. I am right (correct) in letting him know that everything attained during the marriage is joint property: home, household goods, vehicles, bills!
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa

My husband and I are working toward getting a divorce. As a part of the process we are in discussion about division of property. My husband seems to think that bills made during the marriage are his bills and my bills. He does not want to pay what he calls my bills: education, home improvement loans, home depot cc and various other credit cards attained during the marriage to improve our living situation and life together as a married couple. He wants to relieve himself of all responsibility by saying I can have everything including the bills he says are mine alone. I am right (correct) in letting him know that everything attained during the marriage is joint property: home, household goods, vehicles, bills!
Yes and no. Whoever keeps an asset that is associated with a particular debt usually is responsible for the debt associated with that asset.

So, if you have a car loan and you are keeping the car, that's your debt. If you are making payments on a big screen TV, and he keeps the big screen TV, that's his debt. Whoever keeps the home usually must refinance for enough to pay off the original mortgage and to buy out the other's share of any existing equity.

Student loans or other educational debt usually belongs to the person who got the education.

Other than that, yes, its normally a 50/50 split of assets and debts, but each asset and each debt does not have to be split down the middle. For example, if the total assets equal 10k, and the debts equal 5k, if one person takes on all of the debt, then the 5k of the assets goes to that person to offset the debt, and the remaining 5k of assets are split in half, giving the person not keeping the debt, 2.5k of the assets.

It may be fair for you to keep all of the debt that is in your name, if you are also keeping extra assets proportional to whatever would have been his share of the debt you are keeping.
 

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