# Legal question about new marriage and debt

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 1, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029 "2015-05-01T18:55:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029/1 "2015-05-01T18:55:09Z")

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Purely hypothetial. 😛

Man and woman are considering marriage. Man has decent credit, woman has bad credit, bad debts and already has an account frozen by IRS for tax debt and failure to files.

When man and woman are actually married, do the bad debts and tax debts become _his_ debts also? Or will they only attack the wife?

This in California, BTW

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**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029/2 "2015-05-01T19:43:05Z")

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[A relevant article](http://www.bankrate.com/finance/debt/wifes-old-debt.aspx) to start.

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029/3 "2015-05-03T08:18:01Z")

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> [@Typo\_Negative](#):
>
> This in California, BTW

Purely hypothetical, huh?

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**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029/4 "2015-05-03T21:34:58Z")

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From **Pasta** ’s link, the only possible advice from a stranger:  
“…To be on the safe side, I suggest you consult with a tax professional.”.

Tax professionals are really easy to find.

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**Author:** ![bubba001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f17d59/32.png) [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029/5 "2015-05-04T02:39:44Z")

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> [@Typo\_Negative](#):
>
> Purely hypothetial. 😛
> 
> Man and woman are considering marriage. Man has decent credit, woman has bad credit, bad debts and already has an account frozen by IRS for tax debt and failure to files.
> 
> When man and woman are actually married, do the bad debts and tax debts become _his_ debts also? Or will they only attack the wife?
> 
> This in California, BTW

Run, Forest, Run!!

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-about-new-marriage-and-debt/719029/6 "2015-05-04T04:02:40Z")

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Since it appears that this is not entirely hypothetical, let’s move it over to IMHO for some legal advice.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator