When couples without children decide to get divorced, their main focus is likely on dividing assets. They have purchased things together, such as homes, cars, home furnishings, musical instruments, art collections and much more. They need to divide all of their substantial assets as they go their separate ways.
While assets may be a good place to begin, it’s also important for these couples to remember that they need to split up their debts. For instance, many married couples will open a joint credit card account. It doesn’t matter which card was technically scanned or which person made a charge to that account. If both people are named, they likely both bear responsibility. They may have to divide the credit card debt in half.
But credit card debt may be minimal. What happens to more substantial debts, like student loans?
Student loans may also need to be divided
It is possible for both people to have a responsibility for the student loan payments. It usually depends on whether the loans were taken out before the marriage or during the marriage.
For example, say that a couple gets married very young, right after they graduate from high school. They take a year off from school, but then one person decides that they want to go to college. The couple takes out student loans together, and that person enrolls in the university. Even though only one person was attending classes, both people would likely be responsible for the debt.
On the other hand, the couple may both attend college independently, taking out their own loans. Maybe they meet in college and get married after graduation. Even though they are still likely paying off their student loans at the time of the divorce, those may be separate financial obligations that they do not have to share because they took the loans out prior to getting married.
The division of assets and debts often leads to complications, so couples need to know what legal rights and responsibilities they have.