What happens to our joint debts in a divorce?

In Georgia, joint debts, including credit card balances and loans, are to be divided equitably during a divorce.  Equitable division means that the court will consider various factors to determine a fair division of debts between spouses.  This consideration can be very fact intensive.  You and your spouse can also agree on a division of the joint debt.  Keep in mind that all debt incurred during the marriage can be considered marital debt for division between spouses in a divorce, not just debt in both names.  Protecting your credit is a separate issue.  If joint debt is accumulating and/or if payments are not being timely made, you should consider closing those accounts.  Be aware, however, that account closures in some instances could adversely impact your credit score.  Regularly monitoring your credit report can also help identify any potentially adverse credit issues early and allow you to be informed. 

If the debt is marital debt, then it can be divided as the parties agree, or a judge could divide the debt between the parties based on their respective incomes.  Also, if you have marital assets, you may be able to balance the division of debts with the division of assets, so that one party takes all the joint debt, but also receives a larger portion of the marital assets.  There are several ways to handle joint debt.

Georgia follows the Rule of Equitable Distribution to divide and distribute the marital estate. The marital estate includes both assets and debts. Equitable does not always mean equal, but most Judges start their analysis with a mathematical spreadsheet of equal division.

Following such an analysis, if the entire responsibility to pay a debt (a negative number on the balance sheet) is allocated to one spouse, then that spouse should also be awarded assets (a positive number) equivalent in value to the debt.

So, if you want to be certain that a debt is paid, do not depend upon your spouse to do so. You should accept the responsibility to pay the debt, but you should also simultaneously demand that you be awarded assets in an amount equal to the debt.