Legal Question in Family Law in California

How to distinguish premarital debts and marital debts

My husband and I were married since August 2006. We live

in California. We have no assets and no children.

My husband has 8 credit cards accounts with his name only. 7

of these accounts were open prior to the marriage. All of them

were charged off by the lenders and were transfered to debt

collection agencies. It's difficult to distinguish either is marital

debt or separate debt. How about the interest increased from

the balance before the marriage? Is it helpful to record every

single transaction incurred during marriage, such as on certain

date he charged x dollars on his brand name jeans or on

certain date made cash advances at some casinos?

He also had a student loan account opened prior to the

marriage. His mother cosigned for him. He stops making

payments 2 years ago.

He and his mother leased a BMW after our marriage, but it got

repossessed last year. There is a balance of $4000. Who is

responsible for this unpaid amount? My husband? His mother?

Me? or 1/3 each?

My husband has a unpaid traffic ticket in 2007. Who's

responsible?


Asked on 3/10/09, 3:51 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Colin Greene Russakow, Greene & Tan, LLP

Re: How to distinguish premarital debts and marital debts

debts incurred prior to the marriage are separate, debts incurred during the marriage are presumed to be community. If he breached his fiduciary duty by excessive gambling, you can seek reimbursement from him. After separation, to the extent you use your separate property (income for example) to pay on his separate debts, you can seek reimbursement from him. Community assets can be used to pay your husband's separate debts.

Here, if the credit cards are only in his name and your separated with no community property, as long as you aren't on those accounts, its between your husband and the creditor. His student loans, even if incurred during the marriage, are assigned to him without offset. If you didn't sign on the car loan, its between him and the creditor. You have no responsibility concerning his unpaid traffic ticket.

In the future, yes, its good to have accounting software such as Quicken to track your finances. That will help keep things clear at divorce.

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Answered on 3/10/09, 5:43 pm
Mark Russakow Russakow, Ryan and Johnson

Re: How to distinguish premarital debts and marital debts

Lots of questions. Here is the easy rule. Debts before marriage are his separate debts unless you refinance those debts after marriage with your knowledge and take responsibility. If the car was taken out after marriage, you are all liable including mom if she signed the loan docs. Any debt incurred during marriage from community obligations are both of your debts. If you need more help, let me know. Mark.

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Answered on 3/10/09, 5:45 pm


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