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Husbands and wives may be responsible for debts incurred by the otherdepending on the nature of the debt. If both husband and wife have co-signed for the debt, both will be responsible for paying it. If husband and wife apply together for a chargecard and both sign the application form and promise to pay the bills, both will be responsible for paying off the balance, even if only one of them made the purchases and the other disapproved. Similarly, if a husband and wife co-sign a mortgage for a home, both of them are liable to the lender, even if one of them no longer lives in the home. A husband and wife also can be responsible for each other's debts, even if they have not co-signed, if the debt is considered a family expense. If the wife charged groceries at a local shop or took the couple's child privately to a doctor, the husband could be liable because these are expenses for the benefit of the family. On the other hand, if the wife runs up bills for a personal holiday or the husband buys expensive coins for his coin collection, the other spouse normally would not be liable unless he or she co-signed for the debt. Each spouse is not liable for debts the other spouse brought into the marriage. Such debts belong to the spouse who incurred them. However some debts incurred before marriage (say a child support debt) can be collected against marital property jointly owned in a new marriage.
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