Can a Collection Agency Come After Me for My Spouse's Debt?

Marriage is a partnership in which a couple becomes an economic and social unit under the law. In many cases, collection agencies and other creditors can come after you to pay for your spouse's debt -- even if you didn't know about the debt. However, the options available to the collection agency depend on which state you live in and when the debt was incurred.

Debt Before Marriage

Regardless of where you live and the details of the debt, you are not liable for any debt your spouse incurred before marrying you. Whether from student loans or defaulted credit cards, a collection agency cannot go after you for any debt your spouse got into before signing the marriage license. However, if you added yourself onto an account or as a co-signer to any of your spouse's debts, you are responsible.

Debt in a Community Property State

Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin all use community property law. In these states, once you marry, you and your spouse form a community and all of your finances automatically join. If your spouse incurs any debt after the marriage, the collection agency can go after both of you and your assets. Couples can sign legal agreements keeping some or all of their finances separate in community property states; this option should be considered before one spouse goes into business, according to the legal information website Nolo.

Debt in a Common Law State

The other 41 states use common law, which treats each spouse's finances as separate, to a certain degree. Both spouses are liable in a common law state for any debt incurred by one spouse trying to pay for family or household expenses (housing, clothing, food, medical and educational expenses), while other finances, property and assets are the separate responsibility of each spouse.

Joint Accounts and Common Law

Joint accounts and property are the exception to the separate finances arrangement in common law states. If spouses have credit cards or loans in both of their names, both are liable. If the couple has a joint bank account, a collection agency can try to recover up to half of the funds in the account to cover one spouse's debt, even if the indebted spouse did not contribute half of the money in the account.