During your marriage, your spouse has been attending graduate school. This is very expensive, but they are paying for it through student loans. They will then have to pay these loans back over years or even decades.
But now you and your spouse are getting a divorce. The loans are not for your education, but for your spouse’s post-graduate degree. So what happens to the debt? Do you have to split up the money that is still owed on those loans in the same way that you need to divide your marital assets?
When did your spouse take out the loans?
In many cases, the reason for the loans is less important than when they were taken out.
As a general rule, debt from prior to a marriage stays with the individual who took out that debt. But debt that happens after the marriage needs to be divided in the event of a divorce.
So there are many married couples who already had student debt when they tied the knot, and a divorce wouldn’t change that. They would each just keep their own personal debt.
But if you got married and then your spouse decided to go back to school, then those student loans may count as marital debt. This would make them similar to car loans, home loans or credit card debt. They would have to be divided in the divorce, and you would both be responsible for paying at least a portion.
Splitting up assets and debts
Dividing your assets and debts can get very complicated during a divorce, especially if you don’t agree on the obligations you each have. Make sure you are well aware of your legal options at this time.
