Divorce and card debt in community property states

By Sally?Herigstad

To Her Credit

Sally Herigstad is a certified public accountant and the author of "Help! I Can't Pay My Bills: Surviving a Financial Crisis" (St. Martin's Press, 2006). She writes "To Her Credit," a weekly reader Q&A column about issues involving women, credit and debt, for CreditCards.com, and also writes regularly for MSN Money, Interest.com and Bankrate.com, and has guested on Martha Steward Radio and other programs. See her website SallyHerigstad.com for more personal finance tips and free budgeting worksheets. Ask Sally a question, or read her previous answers in the To Her Credit archive

Dear To Her Credit,
I am an authorized user on my husband's credit card. We are separating. I am willing to assume half the debt on the card and move it off his card and onto mine. But, if he doesn't pay his portion, can they come after me for his portion?

The other way I can do it is to leave the balance on the card and make payments to that card to pay off my balance. I could keep track of the payments as proof that I was paying off my portion. But again, I don't want them to come after me if he spends the money I put down as payments and the entire balance is still due.

Any guidance would be appreciated. He had the card before we got married and added me. But since the debt was acquired during our marriage, I wonder if I'm accountable since we were married. We live in Idaho. ? -- Mandy

Dear Mandy,
You are correct, unfortunately. The Idaho office of the Attorney General states that, "In Idaho, a community property state, both spouses may be responsible for any debts incurred while they are married. Even individual debts may appear on each spouse's credit report."

Your liability is not the result of being an authoirzed user, as authorized users typically are not held responsible for any balances on the shared card. However, you may be jointly liable for this debt because you lived in a community property state when the debts were incurred.

As a result of this joint responsibility, if one spouse doesn't pay, the other one must, or risk credit damage and collection actions. The credit card company doesn't see it as his share and your share. They see one debt, and if they can't collect from him, they'll try to get the entire balance from you.

You are also right to be concerned about your soon-to-be-ex paying his share of the credit card bill. Past financial habits are hard to break, and you know his habits well. If you're worried that he'll not only let you make the payments, but spend more on the accounts, you're probably right.

The first thing to do is to notify the credit card company about the divorce and ask them to freeze the account. You can do that by calling or writing to the credit card company. If they won't freeze the account because you are just an authorized user, ask your husband to freeze the account, or seek legal help. Freezing the account stops him from adding to the problem. Do that today.

Next, look to the divorce court for help with the debt. The divorce court can't change your obligations to the credit card company. However, it can divide up your community assets and decide who should pay each debt. If the court says, for example, that your ex should pay half of the credit card debt, and he doesn't pay, he can be in trouble with the court.

If possible, you should try to have all community debts paid for as part of the divorce settlement. You and your husband may be able to each apply for individual cards and transfer your share of the balances to them. Better yet, maybe you have community property, such as a motorcycle, boat or investments, that you can sell to pay off all your joint debts.

You'll need good legal help as you go through a divorce. You have a lot at stake, and the rules can be complex. When you're starting a new life on your own, the last thing you need is to be tied to old debts with your ex. Find a way to ditch the joint debt so you can move on.

See related: Where you live impacts debt liability in divorce, How to dissolve joint debt after divorce

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Published: July 12, 2013

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Source: http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1808712678/Today-in-the-News-Texas-House-passes-strict-abortion-bill?rssfeed=true

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Attending Ford?s Theater with the Lincoln?s: the tragic lives of Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone

Henry Rathbone, with Clara Harris, attempting to stop John Wilkes Booth. (PR 052, Currier and Ives Print)

Most Americans are familiar with the?events of the Lincoln assassination. On the evening of April 14th, 1865 Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln went to see My American Cousin at Ford?s Theater in Washington, D.C. During the play the actor John Wilkes Booth snuck into the Presidential Box and shot President Lincoln. However the details of the other couple in the Presidential Box that night,?Clara Harris and her fianc?e Henry Rathbone, have largely been forgotten. Unfortunately their tragic future was also determined by the horrors of that night.

Clara Harris was the daughter of Senator Ira Harris of New York. After Harris?s mother died, her father married Pauline Rathbone. Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris were step-brother and sister but still fell in love and eventually became engaged to be married. Henry joined the US Army after the outbreak of the Civil War and saw many bloody battles. ?He had hoped to come home from the war, marry his fianc?e, and move on with his life. Clara Harris had become friends with?the First Lady?through the Washington social scene. Others had been invited to Ford?s theater that night, including Julia and Ulysses S. Grant, but all had turned down the invitation.

Lincoln was reportedly enjoying the play until Act III when John Wilkes Booth came into the Presidential Box and suddenly shot?the President?in the back of the head. Startled, Henry stood up and wrestled with Booth, who stabbed him severely in the arm hurting him from shoulder to elbow. As Booth began his escape, Henry screamed ?Stop that man!? while Clara?yelled, ?The President is shot!? Seriously injured, Lincoln was moved to a house across the street from the theater and died the next morning with many in attendance, including Clara.

Mourners at the death of President Lincoln. Clara Harris is depicted in a lavendar dress at the far right. (PR 052, Currier & Ives Print)

The library at the New-York Historical Society has a letter that Clara Harris wrote to her friend Mary describing that frightful night. She describes Mrs. Lincoln seeing blood on Clara?s dress and screaming, ?oh! my husbands blood.? Only later would they learn that it was mostly Henry?s blood on Clara?s dress from his severe stab wound.

Letter dated April 25, 1865 from Clara Harris to her friend Mary describing the night of the assassination. She describes how Mrs. Lincoln saw Clara and exclaimed, ?oh! my husband?s blood, ? my dear husband?s blood- which it was not, though I did not know it at the time. The President?s wound did not bleed externally..? (AHMC Harris, Clara)

After the terrible night at Ford?s Theater, Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone married and had three children. However, Henry was never able to get over what happened at Ford?s Theater. He felt guilty for surviving the assassination and believed, as many had gossiped, that he should have done more to prevent the tragedy from happening. He felt he could never escape attention for being there that night and began to suffer from hallucinations and eventually declined into mental illness. On Christmas Eve in 1883 while living in Germany, he attacked his own family and himself.? Almost imitating the assassination of years before, he shot Clara and stabbed himself several times with a knife. ?Clara died from the attack, and Henry was declared insane. ?He was committed to?an asylum for the criminally insane in Germany and his children were sent to live with their uncle in the United States. Henry?died in 1911 and was buried?with Clara in a cemetery in Germany.

For many years, Clara kept her bloody dress from the night at Ford?s Theater in a closet in their family summer home in Albany. According to family lore, she had the closet walled up with bricks after believing that she saw Lincoln?s ghost. ?In 1910 their eldest son, Henry Riggs Rathbone, had the dress burned stating that it had been nothing but a curse on his family.

The story of the?couple?s life is mostly remembered through historic fiction.? Clara Harris?s?stained?dress was the subject Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews?s 1930 book The White Satin Dress.? The story of the ill fated couple is also told in Thomas Mallon?s 1995 book Henry and Clara.

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Source: http://blog.nyhistory.org/attending-fords-theater-with-the-lincolns-the-tragic-lives-of-clara-harris-and-henry-rathbone/

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