@Anonymous wrote:
My husband and I have been married only a short time. We still have individual homes, bank accounts and credit. We have merged nothing. His business has failed and has several bad debt charge offs (28) and does not want to file bankruptcy. If he does not file bankruptcy will I be responsible for his debt. I have great credit 760 Fico score, but can not afford to bail him out. What do you advice?
First, I would advise meeting with a local attorney as your situation has the ability to indeed be quite complex and without a great deal more information any answer I could give you would be a rough estimate of your potential liability.
Generally speaking, you would not be liable for business debts, but a lot depends on exactly how the business was legally structured. If the business was not properly structured to prevent individual liability or for other reasons the debts are considered personal debt and you live in a state which allows a spouse to be held responsible for debts of the other spouse, you may have problems.
From what you wrote, it would appear at first glance that even if you did live in one of the commuity property states which does allow recourse against a spouse, you have not commingled assets and should be able to avoid liability. Again, however, in certain states this could be a very complex issue and there are a number of certain, subtle acts which can cause your assets to be legally considered as commingled.
Another variable is who the individual creditors are. A lot of creditors do not go after the spouse even though they may be legally free to do so. Sometimes this depends on the amount of the debt.
