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Joint debts can make the break up of a marriage more traumatic. After divorce, it is legally not practical to divide the debts between the couples. Going through a divorce is the most difficult time and such financial complications can turn things all the more ugly and complicated. In case of joint accounts, if one joint account holder misses the payment or stops paying the bill, the lender will come after the other joint account holder. When you open joint accounts with your partner, it means that both of you are responsible for it. A divorce decree does not change the previous agreements made between you and the lenders. It doesn’t matter to the lender who actually made the charges or who agreed to pay off the bills in the divorce decree. The lender will try to collect from both the account holders. So, a word to the wise, don’t sign a divorce petition just for the sake of calling it a quit with your partner. Don’t sign the petition until and unless everything related to all the credit accounts that are jointly held is worked out.

If you are contemplating to file for a divorce, then here are some credit tips.

• Close all the joint accounts before you sign the divorce petition. There may be some creditors who would want the primary account holder to close the account. And if the primary account holder is not you, then you have to talk to your spouse regarding closing the accounts. Though closing accounts will hamper your score, but still it is the best possible option to avoid any future damage caused by your spouse.

• Convert joint accounts into separate or individual accounts. You can turn all gas cards, credit cards and any retail accounts into individual accounts. By doing so, you will be responsible for your own accounts and do not have to worry about your spouse’s credit. And the best part of this option is that you don’t have to bother about rebuilding credit on your own because you will already have it.

• If possible try to settle the account with the creditor directly by paying a lesser amount than what is owed. However, remember to get the whole agreement in writing from the creditor that the account has been paid in full.

• If you are not being able to pay off the debts or can not come to a settlement agreement with the creditors, then you can freeze the accounts. Though by doing so, you won’t be able to use the account anymore however once the divorce is done the outstanding balance on the account can be transferred on that person’s name whom the court holds responsible for the debt. In such cases, if the responsible person does not pay the debt it won’t affect your score.

Lastly, if nothing works out then you can always contact an attorney. I’m not a lawyer and whatever I wrote above is not a legal advice. While I was writing the post my only concern was to help those couples who are contemplating to file for a divorce and are worried about their credit.

Technorati Tags: Divorce, Credit, Marriage, Joint Accounts