What to Do if You Want Your Ex to Pay a Co-Signed Loan

Aug. 17, 2013 — -- When you're going through a divorce, protecting your credit is probably one of the last things on your mind. However, as the following question from one of our readers illustrates, it's definitely something that couples should consider during divorce negotiations:

Unfortunately, as a co-signer, you're both on the hook.

There's really no way out of it unless your ex-wife agrees to refinance the loan entirely in her name. It's a catch-22, and one of the primary dangers of co-signing. It's also the primary reason why divorce often ends up trashing both spouses' credit reports.

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At this point, if you stop paying, and your ex-wife refuses to make the payment, you'll both suffer the damage to your credit reports and scores. In an ideal situation, you'd be able to negotiate with her so that she contributes something toward the debt, but as far as making her accountable -- she already is. It's just that you're saving her credit, as well as your own, by making the payments for both of you.

As far as claiming the interest as a deduction on your taxes goes, the IRS doesn't allow interest deductions on personal loans — only interest on qualifying student loans and mortgage secured loans. One way to address this would be to convince your ex-wife to agree to refinance the loan into your name -- probably not the resolution you're looking for, but it is an option. Another option would be to try contacting the lender and requesting that your role be changed to that of joint or primary borrower, rather than the co-signer. Each lender varies, and they may require you to refinance the loan outright, but it's worth checking with them directly. Even then, because your ex-wife is the primary borrower on the loan, she'll have to agree to the change.

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Divorces by nature are rarely ever pleasant, but in an ideal situation, both parties would evaluate their joint debts and address any co-signed or jointly held accounts as part of the divorce proceedings. The best way to handle these types of accounts would be to close them and re-establish individual accounts in one or the other party's names. This isn't always an option and for this to happen, both parties have to be open to communicating and divvying up the debts, which rarely happens unless a divorce is amicable.

Secondly, with larger debts — like joint mortgages, for example, refinancing may not be an option financially. In which case, financial responsibility is left to whoever the judge decrees as the responsible party.

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The big misconception with divorce decrees leads many couples to assume that whatever the judge says is legally binding, essentially releasing one or the other party from legal liability on a particular debt — it doesn't. As far as the lender is concerned, if both parties are on the loan, both parties are still legally liable for the loan -- regardless of what the judge outlines in the divorce decree. In which case, if the decreed party misses a payment, pays late, or defaults on the debt — both parties' credit will suffer.

This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.