please help!

[ippa]

What is the name of your state? MI

I am recently married (4 months) and recently found that my husband has an addiction problem which has caused him to be dismissed from school. He has about 350 thousand in school loan debt and I'm scared how this will effect my credit. I am not on his loans and did not co-sign them. I'm wondering how should I protect myself about this matter? We cannot pay the loans and I'm afraid I will be responsible someday being his wife. Can they ever effect me?

any advice is appreciated!
thank you

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state? MI

I am recently married (4 months) and recently found that my husband has an addiction problem which has caused him to be dismissed from school. He has about 350 thousand in school loan debt and I'm scared how this will effect my credit. I am not on his loans and did not co-sign them. I'm wondering how should I protect myself about this matter? We cannot pay the loans and I'm afraid I will be responsible someday being his wife. Can they ever effect me?

any advice is appreciated!
thank you

How does he have 350 thousand in student loan debt? That is IMPOSSIBLE. Well never BUY anything with him and don't put him on the deed to your home or on your bank accounts or have a title with him or file taxes with him. Should I continue?

[ippa]

He was in med school attended private school for both undergrad and med school.

So in order for it not to effect me, I cannot have anything joint with him? We have a few things under our names now...cell phones and a few department store cards. He was considering chapter 13 bankruptcy, would that effect me if we didn't have anything joint at that time?

[Zephyr]

I don't think students loans are discharged through bankruptcy

[LdiJ]

He was in med school attended private school for both undergrad and med school.

So in order for it not to effect me, I cannot have anything joint with him? We have a few things under our names now...cell phones and a few department store cards. He was considering chapter 13 bankruptcy, would that effect me if we didn't have anything joint at that time?

You need to pay off those department store cards and cancel them ASAP....and never have another joint account with him, ever again.

[Ohiogal]

He was in med school attended private school for both undergrad and med school.

So in order for it not to effect me, I cannot have anything joint with him? We have a few things under our names now...cell phones and a few department store cards. He was considering chapter 13 bankruptcy, would that effect me if we didn't have anything joint at that time?

Undergrad is capped at $40k for student loans. So where did he get 310k for med school? How long has he avoided it?
Yep. You cannot have ANYTHING joint with him. At all. You have cell phones and credit cards with him? Cancel them IMMEDIATELY. And then let him declare bankruptcy and anything you cosigned or on the account for will become yours when he files.

[ippa]

he needed money for living expenses also. He just was dismissed this month so its pretty recent. I assume interest has accrued throughout the time he has been in school however.

Is an annulment possible?

[LdiJ]

Undergrad is capped at $40k for student loans. So where did he get 310k for med school? How long has he avoided it?
Yep. You cannot have ANYTHING joint with him. At all. You have cell phones and credit cards with him? Cancel them IMMEDIATELY. And then let him declare bankruptcy and anything you cosigned or on the account for will become yours when he files.

The cell phones may not be a problem if its in her name and its one of those family plans where you add an extra phone. Cell phone accounts aren't often "joint". However I agree, if its a joint cell phone account she needs to cancel it ASAP.

Are you sure that all student loans are capped at 40k? I know an awful lot of people (undergrad) who had higher student loans than that.

[ippa]

The cell phone is a family plan. Its under my name and I have him as an additional phone but his name is still present on the account, although, the bill comes in my name.

[LdiJ]

The cell phone is a family plan. Its under my name and I have him as an additional phone but his name is still present on the account, although, the bill comes in my name.

That one is probably ok....but get those credit cards cancelled and paid off!

[Ohiogal]

The cell phones may not be a problem if its in her name and its one of those family plans where you add an extra phone. Cell phone accounts aren't often "joint". However I agree, if its a joint cell phone account she needs to cancel it ASAP.

Are you sure that all student loans are capped at 40k? I know an awful lot of people (undergrad) who had higher student loans than that.

Were they federal student loans? here is the uptodate info -- now this has increased:
[url]http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/studentloans.jsp[/url]

If you're a dependent undergraduate student, each year you can borrow up to

$3,500 (as of the 2007-08 academic year) if you're a first-year student enrolled in a program of study that is at least a full academic year.
$4,500 (as of the 2007-08 academic year) if you've completed your first year of study and the remainder of your program is at least a full academic year.
$5,500 if you've completed two years of study and the remainder of your program is at least a full academic year.

If you're an independent undergraduate student or a dependent student whose parents have applied for but were unable to get a PLUS Loan (a parent loan), each year you can borrow up to

$7,500 (as of the 2007-08 academic year) if you're a first-year student enrolled in a program of study that is at least a full academic year. No more than $3,500 of this amount may be in subsidized loans.
$8,500 (as of the 2007-08 academic year) if you've completed your first year of study and the remainder of your program is at least a full academic year. No more than $4,500 of this amount may be in subsidized loans.
$10,500 (as of the 2007-08 academic year) if you've completed two years of study and the remainder of your program is at least a full academic year. No more than $5,500 of this amount may be in subsidized loans.

[ippa]

they were both federal and private