Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Debt Prior to marriage

Hi,

My boyfriend and I have been living together in NY for 3 years. We are planning to get married by the end of this year. He has a lot of credit card debt.

1) Would I be legally considered responsible for his debt at this point?

2) When we get married, will I be legally responsible for his debt?

3)If we get divorce, would I be responsible for half of his debt?

Thanks,

Roz


Asked on 3/21/06, 12:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Nitzberg Andrew Nitzberg & Associates

Re: Debt Prior to marriage

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.

Regarding the money issues, debts he enters the marriage with continue to be his 'separate property' during and, if it works out that there is an after, after the marriage.

It is possible for you to become responsible, but that would take you signing to take on the debt.

A creditor can seize any funds (accounts) that are held by the two of you together. So if you maintain a separate bank account for your money, then you should be ok.

There are options. If this is a large amount of money, he could submit a CH 7 Bankruptcy petition and that would make the debts uncollectable. A pre-nuptual agreement is unlikely to be helpful in this situation, but it cannot hurt and may increase your comfort.

This is the type of work that I do (Familr Law and CH 7) and you are welcome to a consultation for no fee.

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Answered on 3/21/06, 1:00 pm


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