Do I also marry his debt?
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In the U.S., there are two principles you should know regarding debt responsibility:
1) There is no statute of limitations. A new trend in the collection business is to purchase (for pennies on the dollar) uncollected bad debts written off (generally after 7 years) and aggressively begin collection. The downside is that, when these debts resurface, the collection agencies begin to hit your credit, so your credit rating can go down despite the debt having been written off years before.
2) You are responsible only for those debts you agree to take responsibility for. This means that, unless you are a signor or co-signor or guarantor, YOU HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY.
In an extreme situation, say bankruptcy, all assets you two hold IN COMMON can be up for grabs. But a debt-collector cannot oblige or compel you to pay your husband's debts. Accordingly, I'd advise you to keep separate finances (ie his earnings in one account, yours in another; put the house in your name) until he gets his finances in order. This is more of an administrative thing - you won't get dragged into a legal proceeding if your assets aren't intermingled. Otherwise, it can take a lot more time (and attorney's fees) to sort things out.
They will TRY to collect from you - I used to work in collections and there's some unethical tactics in the field, such as calling up relatives to demand payment for debt (by the way, debt collectors are restricted by privacy laws from even discussing debts with the spouse unless the debtor gives express consent).
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