Am I responsible for my wife debts? HELP !!

Am I responsible for my wife’s unscrupulous spending and credit card and loan debts that are in her name? Is there any legal document that I can sign stating that her debts should not be held against me now or in the future because I was not aware of debts she was creating (she kept many things hidden), and I am not in agreement with her financial choices?

My wife and I have been married for 6 years. We have two girls ages 4 and 2 approximately. We reside in a townhouse which we bought together 6 years ago. We also owned a rental townhouse in Baltimore city which we sold. Most of the profit/money we made form the sale of the rental townhouse went to my wife, so she could reduce her school loans from about $70,000 to $40,000 approximately so that her monthly debts would be reduced once she came out of a deferred status on her student loans. During the time of owning the rental townhouse, I accrued charges (about $7,000) on my credit card just paying to fix up the townhouse. The year after we sold the townhouse we even owed taxes, and rather than deplete the $10,000 I had kept in reserve from the sale of the townhouse, I took and I am paying on a 4-loan from my TSP fund to pay the taxes we owed, that amounted to another $7.000; my wife did not have the money. My wife had become pregnant during our second year of marriage and quit fulltime work in her 7th month. About a year after the birth of our first child, she started working part-time 4 days a month. We had agreed that when our daughter was two, my wife would return to work full-time. Another child was born and that added another tow years to my wife not returning to work full-time but she kept her 4-day a month part-time job for most of the time.

During her years at home my wife tried her hands at various entrepreneurial ventures. I supported her in some ventures but kept advising and warning her that she was spending too much. My wife persisted in all sorts of web businesses and became a Mars and Venus Relationship Coach, a calligrapher, and then she became a Life Coach and Counselor for teens – most of these ventures being web-based and on the phone with all kinds of supplies being bought. By the way, my wife has a Master’s degree (I don’t) and was a school guidance counselor full-time before the pregnancies and is a part-time counselor at a junior college in her current 4-dasy a month job. In her entrepreneurial ventures, my wife began accruing major debts; I spoke with her, I argued; I pleaded with her to stop. I told her I couldn’t be part of her actions and that she was ruining us financially. My wife, unbeknownst to me, opened up credit cards for her businesses. When I found out what she was doing, she told me that business debt would not affect us. I told her it better not. My last daughter is just about two years old now and my wife is supposed to return to full-time work; she refuses to go back to traditional 9- 5 jobs; she refuses to return to her Guidance Counseling career. She has kept her 4-day a month job and is teaching some online counseling classes. In her almost 5 years at home, that is away form full-time work, she did keep her foot in the work world by working part-time but in her entrepreneurial ventures she has accrued over $40,000 in debt which she can’t pay the minimums on, nor can she pay in a timely manner; she has been reported to the credit bureau. Her student loan of $70,000 had been reduced to $40,000 from the sale of our rental townhouse (I thought giving my wife most of the money from the sale of the house was a help for our future because her debt would be reduced), but now my wife with her business ventures which I did not agree to or know about until after the fact, especially her credit cards and charging, has added additional debt of $40,000 – so she is back up to being $80,000 on debt AND has now decided to return to school to be a massage therapist. I think that massage therapy school costs about $12,000 and she may have taken another student loan or regular loan for that expense. I don’t know.

I feel as though I am in a MAD house, in an insane asylum with no restraints or wise decision-making on behalf of my wife, that I am living with someone who is in a make-believe world. I struggle to maintain good credit and keep the family going financially including paying for the van my wife drives.

Am I responsible for my wife’s unscrupulous spending and debts? Is there any legal document that I can sign stating that her debts should not be held against me because I was not and am not in agreement?

Please let me know. Thanks.

Whether you are married or single, you alone are normally responsible for paying off the debt. The account will appear only on your credit report, and may in limited cases appear on the credit report of any "authorized" user. However, if you live or have lived in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin), you and your spouse in some cases may be responsible for debts incurred during the marriage, and the individual debts of one spouse may appear on the credit report of the other.

Confirm with a local lawyer as well!

I am a similar problem just lie you...

And, it eventually leads to the seperation between me and my wife for now. I am living in the Maryland which is NOT a community property state, so most likely I will not be respobsilbe for my wife's credit card debt. Aslo, we both sign a seperation agreement which clearly states that I will be responsible for my debt only and she will be respobsible for her own debt only.

Well, I can only say that you might still need to consult with a lawyer for more details...

[joraelliott]

As previously stated by others...Depends if you live in a community property state. If you do--unfortunately creditors could hold you liable for a debt your wife incurs during the time you are married. I strongly urge you to file a seperation agreement if you do not want to be held liable for her debts. Also consult an attorney for your protection...Good Luck.....

Whether you are married or single, you alone are normally responsible for paying off the debt. The account will appear only on your credit report, and may in limited cases appear on the credit report of any "authorized" user. However, if you live or have lived in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin), you and your spouse in some cases may be responsible for debts incurred during the marriage, and the individual debts of one spouse may appear on the credit report of the other.

[judg4]

community property states--Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin