A credit card is a type of short-term loan; the lender pays for charges to the card and you must pay the lender back at the end of each month or pay interest on your balance. If you default on this loan, your lender may close your account, sue you for the amount you owe or ask the court to garnish your wages to pay the debt. Different states have different laws regarding your spouse's credit-card debt; in Ohio, spouses are only responsible for debts on joint accounts.
Joint Credit Cards
If both spouses signed an application for a credit card, they are jointly responsible for debts incurred from use of the card, regardless of their state of residence. However, if only one spouse signed the credit-card application and then authorized a second card for the other spouse, only the spouse who signed the credit-card application is responsible for that credit-card debt in Ohio.
No Community Property
Ohio is not a community-property state as of 2010. This means that debt, including credit-card debt, does not automatically belong to both members of the marriage. However, if one spouse signed a credit-card application in a state that has community-property laws and was married at the time of application, the credit-card debt may be assigned to both spouses.
Bankruptcy
If your spouse files bankruptcy in Ohio, that does not absolve you of liability for any joint debt you incurred prior to the bankruptcy, including credit-card debt. Thus, if you file for bankruptcy and do not include your husband in the application, he can still be held responsible for the joint debt. However, if you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and arrange to pay off your entire credit-card debt, the creditor cannot collect money via any other arrangement.
Common Law Marriages
Ohio law does not allow creditors to come after spouses in common-law marriages. Thus, if you have lived with your partner for a long period but are not legally married, your creditor cannot institute collection action against your partner for your credit-card debt, even if you signed for the card in a community-property state. If you have a joint account, however, the creditor can still hold your husband responsible.
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