Should You Pay Off Your Ex's Credit Cards?

Joint credit card and other types of debt can very easily outlive a marriage.

ByABC News
May 19, 2013, 8:08 AM

May 19, 2013— -- When the Love Boat morphs into the Titanic and you are flailing in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, the banks are not rescuers, they're sharks. In other words, divorces can get messy -- sometimes really messy -- and it should come as no surprise that money is often at the root of the problem. Getting through the divorce is hard enough, but the money problems don't always end when the papers are signed. In fact, joint credit card and other types of debt can very easily outlive a marriage.

We've heard plenty of stories wherein an ex has damaged the former spouse's credit because of unpaid credit card and other debts. Here we look at one such cautionary tale:

As part of a divorce settlement, a friend of mine forfeited his equity in a home he had jointly owned with his ex, but couldn't wriggle out from under the $100,000 that remained on their home equity line. You see, creditors, like a spouse's divorce lawyer, are pretty old fashioned when it comes to the "till death do us part" thing.

Identity Theft 911. His experience as former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs gives him unique insight into consumer privacy, legislation and financial advocacy. He is a nationally recognized expert on identity theft and credit.