Will my past debts become a burden to my fiancee once we are married?

emarketingguyz: Will my past debts become a burden to my fiancee once we are married?
I am currently engaged to my fiancee. I have a foreclosed house and a car that got repoed, I owe back taxes on the property and thousands on the car not mention other credit card debts.

My question is, when I get married, will my past debts NOW become my wife’s debts? Will she become responsible for the money owed?

Answers and Views:

Answer by crazy8eddie
Yes. Get a bankruptcy for her protection.

Answer by Veritas
No, but together you will not get credit for anything because of your horrible credit history.
She will not be responsible for any of your debts before she married you.

Answer by Frank112
Yea, sucks to be her

Answer by XRatedMisfit
yes, they will.

Answer by SomeGuy
Depends on your state. To be safe though, file for bankruptcy before you get married. Then whenever you need a new house loan or car loan, take the loans out in her name.

Answer by vballer00024
She won’t owe any money but you two won’t be able to finance anything together everything will have to be in her name only which I’m not sure is possible when you’re married. That’s what happens when you own things you can’t afford.

Answer by Terry
She not only marries you, she marries your credit report. If I were her, I would not marry you. You are like Obama. You have no idea how to manage money.

Answer by Nicole
yeah, and I hope she knows about all this.

Answer by thinking about it
No – it is premarrital obligations. And if you had assets — like cars, houses, etc. and you were doing good — anything before the marriage you owned —–would be yours only also…I am positive about this. Ask me how I know — when I got divorced, what was mine – was mine…from pots and pans to student loans, trust me.

BUT – you will drag her credit down.

You are not the only one — if she loves you, she will help you and not judge.

Answer by Tanqueray
yes she will

Answer by bubblesofjoye
okay obviously the people on here answering have never been married or just being stupid. If you have any debt that you accumulated prior to the marriage it will not affect her. My husband had debt as did i before we married and it didn’t affect either of us that’s bull. What affects your marriage is the debt you guys go into once you are married. Even if you separate in the future her debt will be yours and yours will be hers until a divorce (god forbid that happens) but no your debt will not affect her credit it will just affect what you guys will be able to get such as house and vehicle wise.

Answer by Shαnnδn
Yep.

Answer by Amber C
I think the laws differ from state to state. In all ways, it will affect your wife to be. Combined, you will never be able to finance anything. Your combined credit will suck. And, if wage garnishments come into the picture, they WILL be allowed to garnish her wages also. However, if she has decent credit, she SHOULD be allowed to finance something on her own. My suggestion would be to get some credit counseling. Find some sort of debt reduction assistance. There are classes all over the country that will help you learn the secrets to paying off your debt and not feel too much pain in the pocketbook. They will teach you how to contact your creditors and even what to say to get them to lower the ammount owed, or the interest. And sometimes, even drop the account all the way. You just have to know where to look for the help. Wish I knew where you were, I could help find resources for you. I wish you the best of luck!

Answer by motherof5
I’m not entirely sure about legally, but once you marry surely you will share your problems.

For better for worse, for richer for poorer!!!

I would suggest filing for bankruptcy.

But remember if you are in the U.K. (I don’t know about anywhere else). If your fortunes pick up you will still be expected to pay your debts.

Most people don’t realise this. They think once a bankruptcy has been filed that’s it. It is not, it means whilst you are unable to pay your debts your debtors must leave you alone. Once you are back on your feet the courts will take your money to pay your debts.

check out were you stand.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, better this than a shock along the line.

Answer by Gary B
She is NOT responsible to pay off your bad debts. She is not responsible for anything she didn’t sign for in her own name.

But your debts WILL be a burden on your relationship, because that is the purpose of a relationship — to share evertyhing, the good times and the bad. She WILL feel the need to help you pay off those debts.

Now, when you two try to go get a house of your own, that foreclosed house and car debt WILL show up on your credit report, and in this economy it WILL cause you be be ineligible for a mortgage. Now, that is likely to piss her off.

Forget about bankruptcy. That will STILL show up on your credit report for AT LEAST 7 (maybe 10) years — and again, no morgage. SHE will usually not have trouble getting credit on her own (so long as her credit is good) but getting credit together (like mortgages) are going to be greatly hampered by YOUR bad credit.

You need to be completely honest about this problem NOW, BEFORE you get nmarried. Sit down TONIGHT and discuss this with her.. When she gets in the “white picket fence” mode (wants a house and a yard and a dog and 3.2 kids) you are going to present some MAJOR hurdles to her, and it very well could end your marriage — thus adding MORE debt to your load.

you may want to delay the marriage until you have paid down some of this debt. Little you can do about the hosue, but you could still pay off the car and the credit cards.

Answer by Debbie
That’s a great question for the financial guru Suzi Orman.
But I would say no, not accumulated debts before marriage, but it will effect what you try to finance after you are married!

You need to protect her from that somehow, or pay off your debts. Seek the help & advice of a debt consolidating company such as www.consumercredit.com (CCC) this is a non profit organization (do not use one of those scam artists from the TV)
Consumer Credit Counseling works! They will work with you and your creditors to make payment arrangements that you can afford and their fee per month is nominal since they are a non profit organization.
They can stop your creditors from calling you, reduce interest and penalties and get a low monthly re payment term for you. You pay them one monthly fee (for your debts) and they send the payments to the creditors so you don’t have to deal with the annoying phone calls.

The creditors will report to the credit bureaus as usual but there will be notations that you are paying instead of not paying.

It’s really worth it. In the logn run it will protect your credit better than a bankruptcy will. ONLY resort to bankruptcy if there is no other way out! If you go bankrupt after you are married then your wife will also have to declare bankruptcy with you. Especially if you live in a community property state such as TEXAS.

Answer by Toxic Panduh
Legally she won’t become responsible for the money owed though there are exceptions. She needs to insure she keeps her finances separated from yours, which includes bank accounts, credit cards, home mortgages & tax filings (she will need to file married filing separately to avoid any debt collectors from taking her part of any tax return).

With saying that, the simple fact is anyone with prior debt or obligations is naturally a “burden” financially to their other. Why? Because income that should normally go towards the married couple is being diverted to pay for something else not related to the married couple.

Answer by wpa5152
She married her dream guy, She married her dream guy! Now your living in the basement of his mother and dad because she did not check his credit and found it was whack, now instead of living in a house with a yard and a dog, they’re living with his mom and dad! You bet it affects her credit and together it will be tough. I married a woman who had a bankruptcy in her past and thank God for my credit or we would not hav had anything. But my good credit only goes so far. Even though she has a great paying job we still can only go so far. Your debts are your debts but I would see a lawyer or debt consolidation outfit pronto!

Answer by City Girl
Yes, If you marry then your money troubles will become her troubles. Back taxes yes because if you file jointly then the irs will take what you owe out of your joint return. You will not be able to buy a house together or car till you past debts are paid off. Your credit is in the tubes why not wait on the marriage part till you can put yourself and your credit in better standings.