After a married couple decides that it is going to get a divorce, the two spouses in the marriage must agree upon a division of property as well as child custody if applicable.
In addition, couples must determine how they will divide their debts, which is often a point of contention among spouses.
As with other parts of the divorce settlement, the first attempt at debt division is usually made between the two spouses in the marriage.
If spouses cannot agree on a division that pleases both of them, though, they may have to take their case to divorce court.
When a couple decides to let the government have the final say on their debt division, they can expect: · Debts to be split as equitably as possible · Only debts incurred during marriage to be split · Personal debts to stay with the spouse who incurred them In many cases, the court's ruling is final, though it may be appealed in some cases.
Usually, divorce courts determine all of the debts that the couple acquired while married together and splits those.
Loans and debts incurred before marriage, or those that only one spouse signed for during the marriage, will usually remain the sole responsibility of that spouse.
Additionally, it is important to keep in mind that just because a court assigns a debt to one of the spouses, it does not always mean that the creditor will observe this decision.
In other words, if the spouse who was assigned a debt fails to pay that debt, the creditor may ask the other spouse to pay the debt even though the couple is no longer married.
Divorce is a complicated subject that is only further complicated by debts.
If you and your spouse are considering divorce, the Fort Lauderdale divorce attorneys of Eric N.
Klein & Associates, P.
A.
can provide further information.