Seperation Agreement

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AR

My husband and I are seperating and will file for divorce at a later date. We have been married for less than 2 years. He has a lot of debt credit cards, mortgage etc. He had these debts before we were married and added to the credit cards while we were married. My name is not on the accounts. We are trying to do this with out dragging lawyers in at this time. I am making an agreement that we will take to a notary to sign and have witnessed. I have listed each of our debts and made each of us solely responsible for our own proir to, during and after the seperation. I have forfeited my interst in his home had was buying before we were married.

My question is this - will the creditors and courts uphold our agreement when we go to court and not hold us responsible for each others debts?

I wanted to add that we have no children and have kept most of our money seperate during the marriage.

basslady13 said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? My question is this - will the creditors and courts uphold our agreement when we go to court and not hold us responsible for each others debts?

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No. The creditors are not bound by any agreement you and your husband reach.

However, they can also not touch you on things that you didn't agree to. So a credit card that's only in his name is his problem and the credit card company can't come back on you.

One thing - when you have finalized your agreement, submit it to the court for approval. It's pretty much useless until the court approves it.

Credit Cards

Ok since I didn't have anything to do with the credit cards they can't come after me. Does that also hold true on the mortage he had before we married and a truck he bought after we married but I did not sign for?

basslady13 said:

Ok since I didn't have anything to do with the credit cards they can't come after me. Does that also hold true on the mortage he had before we married and a truck he bought after we married but I did not sign for?

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Yes. Those are his problem.

mistoffolees said:

Yes. Those are his problem.

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I mostly agree with you. However, I should add a warning that in a community property state (and AZ is one of them) a creditor does have the ability to go after a former spouse for debts entered into during the marriage.

However,

1) The creditor has to know about the marriage before it would even occur to them to try to go after a former spouse. In a short term marriage, its highly unlikely.

2) A creditor cannot go after a former spouse for real estate debt, because the house is the collateral for that.

3) A creditor really cannot go after a former spouse for a car note either, again, because the car is the collateral for that.

4) The only thing really at issue are the credit cards, but unless some really significant items were purchased on the cards during the marriage, its really unlikely that a credit card company would do that, because it would simply be too difficult for them to prove what portion of the debt was possibly marital.

I will re-emphasize that without a formal separation agreement, submitted to the courts and with a judge's signature, a notarized agreement will not hold up later on down the road. If you want the property settlement to be upheld later on, when you divorce, then you need a legal separation with a separation agreement.

LdiJ said:

I mostly agree with you. However, I should add a warning that in a community property state (and AZ is one of them) a creditor does have the ability to go after a former spouse for debts entered into during the marriage.

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Which has nothing to do with this case. They live in AR - which is an equitable distribution state, not community property.

mistoffolees said:

Which has nothing to do with this case. They live in AR - which is an equitable distribution state, not community property.

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Well dang...I misread AR as AZ...