Student loans are very common in the United States. In recent years, they have reached record levels. Many people take out student loans that will take them years or even decades to pay off.
As such, this means that there are many married couples where one or both people have student loans from their time in college. If these married couples decide to get divorced, what happens to those student loans?
When did they take out the loans?
This can differ from one situation to the next. Often, when the loans were obtained plays a big role.
Generally speaking, if someone took out student loans prior to getting married, those are a separate financial obligation. During divorce, they just continue to have responsibility for their loans, but their spouse does not take that on.
It gets complicated when the loans were taken out during the marriage. This can cause them to qualify as a marital debt, especially if both people benefited from the increase in education and if shared resources were used to pay back a portion of the loans. If a couple has been jointly paying the loans out of their savings, for example, then they may have to divide the student loans during a divorce.
Additionally, people will sometimes co-sign on a loan. Even if one person was attending college, if their spouse was a co-signer, they are both responsible for that student debt. They would need to divide the debt during divorce because it does not belong only to the student.
Addressing financial obligations
Student loans are just one type of debt that couples need to consider during a divorce. It is very important to know what legal steps to take regarding financial obligations, property division and much more.