The parties to the divorce need to divide up both their assets and their liabilities. Often, the debt that is associated with a car, a house or other type of asset will go with that property. So, if someone is taking their Toyota Corolla in the divorce and there is a car loan on it, the person who is going to be driving the car may also take the debt and be responsible for paying the debt. According to InCharge, when there are credit card bills, medical bills or other types of debt, the parties may divide those in a number that makes sense. The parties can do this by agreement, with one party taking $5000 worth of debt and another party carrying $7000 worth of debt.
Where there is a trial and the judge directs one party to pay a certain amount of debt and the other party to take another part of the debt, then it is just merely a matter of math. The parties need to be aware that while that is a binding order by the court, that does not necessarily bind the creditor.
For example, there may be a credit card that both spouses were using. While the judge may say that person A is now responsible for paying this visa card, if the parties do not pay the debt, the credit card company can go after both spouses. Person B cannot hold up their divorce decree and say they were not supposed to pay it because the credit card company or other creditor is not a party to your divorce. According to Consumer Credit, that assignment of responsibility that the judge makes or that you agree to is between the two of you.
