Legal Question in Family Law in California
Hello there,
I am a married woman in California and have 3 kids with my husband. Recently, both me and my husband decided to file for a divorce. My only problem is that he is in debt big time and owes a lot of money to credit cards and loans which he all did by himself without telling me and gambled with the money, and I don't want to be responsible for any of that. He has already filed bankruptcy once and ruined my credit score. Moreover, he is WILING to sign a paper or a legal document that would separate his finances from mine so that when we file for a divorce neither of us will be responsible for the others debt nor will anticipate the other to split his/her assets in half. My questions are:
-is this even possible in a community property state?
-does such legal document exist? if so, does it protect all of my assets?
-if non of that works, can we file for divorce in a non-community property state and still get the same result? or does the law of the home/marriage state still apply?
Please any advice is well appreciated, I just want to keep my money for myself and don't want to pay another person's debt just because we are married. And again, he agrees that I am not responsible for any of that and he doesn't want me to split anything with him after divorce, I just want a legal proof for that just in case he changes his mind later on after the divorce.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Yes all of that is possible but you do want to have an attorney prepare the agreement, don't go with a paralegal on that one. You handle that agreement with a Marital Settlement Agreement, that would be prepared by the attorney and made a part of the Judgment for Dissolution.
Gambling and creating debt therefrom or wasting community credit is a breach of the marital fiduciary duty spouses have to one another. The court may order that all gambling debt be the responsibility of your ex and that he indemnify and hold you harmless from that liability. However, creditors of have a right to go after either spouse to collect the debt and this liability may injure your credit standing.
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