Legal Question in Family Law in California

They are community debts. It is possible to have him made solely responsible as between you and him, but not as far as the creditors are concerned. When a creditor extends credit to a married person, they are not stripped of the right to collect from both spouses just because the couple decides to get a divorce. In addition, unless for some reason he is willing to take no the debts without compensation, you will only be able to get 100% of the debt assigned to him if he also gets assets of sufficient value to offset your 50% of the debt, or some other valuable consideration, such as credit toward spousal support, etc.

The previous answer is true, only if we assume that the debt in your name, acquired during marriage, is a community debt. It is possible that it is not. For example, a prenuptial agreement could have allocated the debt to one or the other. Also, if the debt was related to separate property (e.g. real estate purchased before marriage), the debt may be separate, as well.

So, I would not have made the assumption that Mr. McCormick seems to have made.

Additionally, you should note that the previous answer's comment about an offset for your share of the debt presumes that the matter will be decided at trial, by the court. Many marital dissolutions are resolved by agreement. If you and your husband can come to an agreement about how to allocate the debts, you don't need to worry about the offset.