What is the court going to do with regard to unpaid marital debt?
If the parties have joint assets that can be sold to pay the debt without disposing of the home or an important income producing marital asset, the Court may order it sold to pay the debt. Otherwise, generally speaking, the court is going to order that unpaid marital debts accumulated during the marriage be paid for on a prorated basis based on the net pay of the parties. Meaning, that if the husbands net pay constitutes 3/5 of the parties net pay together, he will be paying 3/5 of the debt, and of course, the wife would be paying 2/5. This can be altered however, by what the court does in child support and alimony and other areas. The court will try and do equity here. If one party or the other has accumulated a great deal of the marital debt just prior to divorce, the court may see that activity as “in anticipation of divorce”, and order the party who incurred the debt to pay it by themselves. Also, if the court sees marital debt incurred after separation that benefits only one party
