Legal Question in Family Law in Maine

Re: Responsibility of spouses debts

I can only evaluate Maine law. For New Hampshire law, you should contact a NH attorney.

A spouse's sole debts generally do not create liability with the other spouse. Obviously joint debts, or co-signed debts are the responsibility of both. However, the obligation to pay creditors will take preference over estate assets, and nothing may be left for the surviving spouse.

It is also possible that if the surviving spouse greatly benefitted from the debts, a creditor may decide to challenge the issue in Court. For example, if you both knew that your spouse only had a few weeks to live, but he charged with a credit card a $20,000 luxury trip around the world for you to go on together, or charged a $5,000 plasma T.V. and "gave" it to you, a creditor may convince the Court that the debt was not a "sole" debt of the deceased spouse. Such a situation may be seem rare, but it illustrates the point that a Court can order payment if it thinks there was fraud involved with a debt or the transfer of assets to avoid payment.