| d2njti |
| (member) |
| 08/26/11 05:57 PM |
Re: separation issue and whose resp for bills
|
Any payee can come after you for anything any time. They just have less and less possibility of collecting from you the farther away from the immediate responsibility you are.
If your signature is on it (lease, car loan, utility bill what ever) they have a strong argument to collect from you regardless of marriage, separation or divorced.
If you're still married, most debts and obligations are considered joint regardless of who signed for it.
If you're legally separated, it's difficult to argue that one spouse has created a binding obligation for the other (i.e. you probably don't need to worry about his lease if he signed for it after the separation.)
After the divorce if final neither spouse can obligate the other, but any debts or obligations up to that point are fair game.