Question:  How does the court deal with community debt, credit cards and medical?


Answer:  With regard to debts, as spouses we have a duty to provide "necessaries" for each other, shelter, food clothing, and medical care. Therefore, a first example is you should keep the spouse covered with health insurance. Without the medical coverage, since you are married to this person, if anything happens to them-car wreck, etc-you could be tagged for 100% of outstanding medical expenses. So, the short version is, keep them covered!

A second example involves credit card debt. In theory, a spouse could be liable for charges involving the "necessaries", but most credit card companies do not pursue this avenue of recovery, unless it is a large amount of money. Plus, even if only one spouse can sign for charges on the card, the charges are technically community debt during marriage. However, as a practical matter, courts usually divide property in such a way to require the card account owner to pay it.