It’s expensive to just exist in this day and age. Between mortgages, car notes, credit cards and those ever-pressing student loans, the average person is carrying about $104,125 in debt.
When you’re going through a divorce, you may find that you’re worried less about how to divide the marital assets and more about how to split up the marital debt and protect your credit. Here are some tips:
Close or freeze joint accounts
As soon as divorce becomes a reality, you want to make sure that no more joint debt is accumulated. If you can, pay off and close any joint accounts. If you can’t pay off the debts right away, ask the credit card companies to freeze the accounts so that no more shared debts accumulate.
Remove your names from the other’s accounts
If your spouse is listed as an authorized user on any of your credit cards, make sure that you promptly revoke that authorization. You also want to remove your name from any credit cards that actually belong to your spouse. That way, if more debts are accumulated, they can be more easily allocated to the appropriate party.
Monitor your credit
This is not the time to be trusting. You wouldn’t be the first person to find out that their spouse has opened a credit card or two in their name. Get your credit reports from all three credit bureaus to check for hidden debt and sign up for a credit monitoring service.
Eventually, you and your spouse will have an agreement in place that tells you each what debts are yours to keep. At that point, it may become necessary to refinance certain debts into your individual names so that you can sever your financial ties. Until then, experienced legal guidance is wise.