If you have judgment from a private creditor debt, such as a credit card or a loan that belongs only to you, your spouse is not responsible for paying your judgment. If you have a debt for which you have a judgment to garnish or offset your state or federal tax refunds or to levy your bank account, your spouse will end up paying a portion of your judgment even though she is not legally responsible for the debt.
About Judgments
When you receive a judgment from a court, it means one of your creditors sued you for a defaulted debt. If you do not pay off the balance in full or work out payment arrangements with the company suing you, the company can garnish your wages and state income tax refunds. If the debt belongs only to you, the creditor cannot sue your spouse. If you are not sure whether the debt belongs to you or to both you and your spouse, look on your judgment paperwork under the "Defendant" section. If it belongs to both you and your spouse, both of your names will appear in this section.
Legal Responsibility
When you sign loan documents or credit agreements, you become legally responsible to pay back the loan. The creditor then has the right to sue you in court to receive a judgment to recover the outstanding balance on your account. If your spouse did not sign the loan or credit agreement, he is not legally responsible for paying the judgment resulting from a private creditor suit. However, if your spouse did sign the loan or credit agreements, both of you are legally responsible for paying the judgment.
Tax Refund Offsets
Private creditors can obtain a judgment to offset or garnish your joint state tax refunds. Federal and state government agencies are permitted to garnish your joint federal tax refunds to pay your judgment. This means that even though your spouse is not legally responsible for paying your judgment, she will end up paying toward it if you file your state and federal income taxes as married filing jointly. The creditor will take the entire joint tax refunds unless your spouse submits an Injured Spouse Allocation form to your state taxing agency and Internal Revenue Service . By filing the forms, your portion of your joint tax refunds will go toward paying your judgment and your state's taxing agency and the IRS refunds your spouse's portions to her.
Community Property States
If you live in a community property state, typically the property in which you and your spouse acquire while married is community property. Unfortunately, these states also typically consider the debt you acquire while married, as community property. This means that a creditor can pursue both you and your spouse for payment on a judgment for a debt belonging only to you. Community property laws can differ by state, so you may want to talk to an attorney.
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