This zombie thread, Credit cards and death, was just closed, but I had some followup questions.
My wife and I have joint debt (primarily our mortgage).
We also both have credit cards in our own names. All of the money owed by each of us on our cards was acquired after we were married.
We both have wills that leave everything to the surviving spouse.
If one of us dies, is the surviving spouse responsible for the credit card debt held in the deceased spouse’s name? (I understand that the surviving spouse is responsible for the mortgage.) I’m guessing that any credit card debt is paid for out of the deceased spouse’s estate, but how is the deceased spouse’s assets separated from jointly-held marital assets?
Also, if (God forbid) we ever were to get divorced, and one of us had most of the credit-card debt on a credit card that was only in that person’s name (though the debt was for joint household expenses), how would this debt be handled? Would the debt most likely be split equally between us by the divorce court, or would the spouse whose name is on the account be stuck with the whole balance?
We live in Connecticut (which is not a community property state, I believe), and my wife’s income and my income are roughly equal.