How To Divide Debts When A Divorce Occurs
Divorcing is not a pleasant experience. For that reason, today you will discover how to divide the debts so that the situation is resolved as soon as possible.
A divorce is a bitter experience that, in the vast majority of cases, is fraught with pain. To this very delicate situation are added all the procedures consisting of dividing the debts that have been contracted during the time that the marriage bond has lasted.
When there are debts , disagreements, arguments and even differences can arise that lengthen the divorce process longer than expected. To prevent this from happening, we will see how debts can be divided fairly for the two members who were previously united in marriage.
First steps to dividing debts
Before dividing the debts and bringing them to the attention of an attorney during the divorce process, it is necessary to make a list of all of them. For this, it is very important to maintain open communication with our partner.
When making a list of all the debts, it is important not to forget to take into account the moment in which they were contracted, the interest that each one has, what monthly payment fee they suppose and what is their cancellation date. After this, we will confirm that we have collected all the data properly and we will present the list of debts to our lawyer. He will give us a series of tips that we will present below.
Tips for dividing debts
At the moment in which we present the debts to the lawyer, he will advise us to negotiate cordially with our partner. This will be much better, since we will speed up the process. What happens if one of the members does not want to collaborate? In this case, the most likely is that the debts will be distributed at 50%, whether this is fair or not.
The higher the income, the more debt you have to pay
If at the time of dividing the debts, the members of the relationship choose to communicate amicably to resolve the distribution fairly, the lawyer will advise them as follows.
As the article The principle of protection of the weakest spouse in modern family law points out , whoever has had more income, will pay more amount of debt. For example, if one of the members of the relationship earned 2,000 euros per month and the other 900 euros, it would be fair for the former to pay a higher percentage of the debt.
Refinancing possibilities
Another important tip that we must also take into account is that we must analyze whether there are possibilities of refinancing some debts. This is usually the case when a property is in the name of both.
When this happens, the person who keeps the house usually refinances it, a concept included in the article The extrajudicial agreements from the private perspective of bankruptcy law . Thus, the house is only in your name and the other person is exempt from any responsibility regarding the debt.
Individual debts
Despite the fact that when you marry another person, everything is shared 50%, there is the possibility of differentiating between individual and joint debts. Although this will depend on the negotiation carried out by the spouses.
For example, if one of the members of the relationship has his own business and has incurred a debt, while the other member works for someone else, there is the possibility that he will take care of it himself. However, as we mentioned, everything will depend on how the couple negotiates and if they reach an agreement that benefits both of them.
Debts during divorce
Having debt is already a difficult situation for a couple. If you add a divorce to this, the circumstances can become quite delicate. For this reason, despite the pain of this experience, it is important to try to negotiate as much as possible through clear and respectful communication.
This will save us a lot of time and also money. Well, when there are different problems that slow down the divorce process, it can take too long, which will increase its cost.
Above all, let us never hesitate to put ourselves in the hands of a good lawyer who can advise us in the best possible way to divide the debts in a fair way for both of us.
