Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Wisconsin

Marital Property--Spouse Co-Signing Mortgage Note for Non-Marital Child, Is Non-Signing Spouse Obligated?

Spouses need not get permission their spouses spouse to incur debt, so such an obligation is legal. The more interesting question, however, is whether or not this obligation also binds the non-signing spouse. Under the WI marital property, most debt is automatically marital property and would therefore exposes the non-signing spouse to legal liability for it. Lenders, however, must send out a "tattletale notice" to the non-obligating spouse, so that person can intervene with the creditor to try to deny liability, and/or divorce the spouse due to being unable to agree on important financial matters. The fact that this debt benefits a non-marital child makes the question even more interesting, since one element of creating an obligation under the marital property act is that the debt be incurred "in the interest of the family." This fact is usually presumed, however, there may be an opportunity to dispute debt in this scenario as not being in the interest of the marital family. I would need to research the issue in order to assist further. You should retain a lawyer to do this research for you if you are in earnest need of the answer to this question.