Legal Question in Family Law in Wisconsin

Re: Debt before marriage

The short answer is "no," but, as usual, things are

a bit more complicated than that. Even though it

is not a marital debt under the Wisconsin Marital

Property Act, any spouse's interest in the marital

property of the other is still available for the

satisfaction of a separate, non-marital debt. Therefore,

the debtor spouse's marital interest in the wages

of the non-debtor spouse are liable. This means that

the marital wages of the non-debtor spouse are

still subject to such things as garnishment by this

creditor. Non-marital property (such as a well documented

inheritance which has not been comingled with other

funds), however, is not subject to such a garnishment.

Hope this helps! Our marital property law is something

of a morass in this regard. I would need to know

more about the exact situation to give you any serious

advice--don't even know if you're still married to

the person. If not, then your new wages are in the clear!