# Dear beowulff: re your remarks in the Life Insurance thread in GQ

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-beowulff-re-your-remarks-in-the-life-insurance-thread-in-gq/555643>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [September 30, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-beowulff-re-your-remarks-in-the-life-insurance-thread-in-gq/555643 "2010-09-30T19:01:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 41

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-beowulff-re-your-remarks-in-the-life-insurance-thread-in-gq/555643/41 "2010-09-30T20:59:54Z")

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> [@Death and Credit Card Debt](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-credit-card-debt/555606/16):
>
> > [@beowulff](#):
> >
> > Man, you people…  
> > I’m not arguing the specifics of this case. As far as the original thread goes, If she doesn’t pay back a dime, fine.
> 
> Actually, what you said in the original thread was:
> 
> > [@Death and Credit Card Debt](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-credit-card-debt/555606/16):
> >
> > His wife may not have to pay her deceased husbands CC debt, but it’s certainly true that you and I will.  
> > I don’t really see why everyone is rushing to attack the credit card companies, when the husband basically welshed on his debt. The ethical thing to do would be for the wife to make any effort to pay off the debt, rather than expect all the rest of us to pay it for her.
> 
> So a few hours ago you certainly weren’t “fine” with her not paying a dime.

Whether she makes an effort to pay is completely up to her. She needs to do what is right for her, and i don’t know anything about her situation. However, i suspect that if she did some soul-searching, she would come to the conclusion that at least part of her husband’s CC debt was of direct benefit to her, and therefore she would sleep better if she tried to pay it off.

I’m more irritated at all the posters who think that it’s somehow OK to renege on debt that was incurred when married. If I get divorced, my wife can potentially receive a percentage of my future earnings. I don’t see why people don’t think that the converse is reasonable - that she should be responsible for a portion of my current debt.

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