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Divorce, even when it’s uncontested, can still be extremely expensive, particularly as it often means that people will be moving from dual-income to single-income households. As a result, it’s hardly surprising that so many people are concerned about their spouse’s debts and whether or not they’ll be in any way responsible for them.

Generally, you wouldn’t need to worry about debt that your partner accrued entirely in their own name such as credit cards, personal loans etc. This would still apply if the debt was accrued for something you both benefitted from such as a holiday or home improvements unless your former partner contested this in court and provided evidence that you agreed to share the debt in question. As we’re sure you can imagine, this is likely to be problematic and is very rarely pursued as a result.

Whilst you’ll probably think that this is good news, there is a potential drawback: if you’ve ever had a joint bank account, your credit ratings are forever linked. What this means is that your credit rating will be adversely affected if your spouse fails to make payments or worse.

Now, if you’re confident that you won’t be relying on credit then this may be something that you can live with. As we’ve stated previously, though, the period that follows a divorce is often financially turbulent and the insurance of available credit can, at such times, prove to be invaluable. Should you find yourself without savings and in urgent need of money, you could well find that your only option is to take out a payday loan and to then deal with either the exorbitant payments that will follow or, worse yet, bankruptcy. It’s an extreme example, but the point remains: you may not be responsible for your former spouse’s debts following a divorce, but they can still have an adverse effect on your finances.

Painful though it may be, it can be better to negotiate an agreement that ensures both parties will be able to keep up with any repayments they are left with. It may seem unreasonable for you to find yourself paying for your former spouse’s purchases and, yes, that’s a perfectly reasonable way to feel under such circumstances but – for the reasons we’ve discussed previously – it can make fiscal sense.

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