Protecting assets through spouse

It depends if you live in a "community property" state. There are 8 states (I think) that will hold your wife responsible for the debt even if she didn't sign, just because you are married. In those states, they would be able to put liens against the house.

I'm not sure which states are community property states. You could run a search on this site for the term, and that question has probably been answered somewhere here.

If you don't live in a community property state, then the only assets the creditor can go after are assets that you personally own. In that case, the house and car would be off-limits.

Also, even in community property states, if the card was opened before your marriage they may not be able to go after your wife, however they could argue that you USED the card, or it went into default while you were married....there is something..I can't remember the name of it..but its something the spouse signs...basically stating she had no knowledge of the card....but I can't remember the name of this paper or whatever it was.

True, the debts have to be incurred during the course of the marriage.

I'm sure every community property state has different requirements. We do loans in WI, which is a community property state. All we are required to do is 1) ask the debtor if they are married; 2) if they say yes, then all we have to do is mail the spouse a notice that the debtor has obtained a loan from our company and may be responsible if there is a default. The spouse doesn't actually have to sign anything.

I personally don't agree with that whole arrangement. All a debtor has to do is intercept the mail. Down the line, the spouse can find themselves responsible for a lot of debts they never knew about. And I've had many customers tell me they got divorced for that very reason.

I agree with you debtcruncher..if it is easy to send a notice, it is just as easy to send it certified mail, or require the spouse to come in and sign knowledge of it. That's how it is in Texas for some things....when my hubby got a loan they had me sign as the spouse, even though the loan wasn't in my name.