My husband refuses to pay my student loans as I took out the loans before we were together

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Question: I am married but unemployed, and my husband refuses to pay my student loans, which I had before we were dating. Do I have access to the money? Yes. But if I were to touch it, it could cause a divorce because he feels that it’s not his responsibility, as we were not together at the time I acquired the student loans. Is there any way to get out of it? Or is there some type of loophole? I haven’t worked in years. I don’t even know how I would repay these back on my own.

Answer: The short answer, at least in your case, is this: In general, since you took out the loans before you were married, “there’s no loophole and your husband isn’t legally responsible for your debt,” says Leslie H. Tayne, financial attorney and founder of the Tayne Law Group.

Even if a couple is married when one spouse takes out a student loan, the debt may still belong to the person who took it out; however, a spouse would be responsible in situations like if they cosigned the student loan or if the loan was taken out after the marriage and the couple lives in a community property state such as Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington or Wisconsin.

That said, “if you refinanced and put both of your names on the loan, your husband then becomes legally responsible for the debt,” says Tayne. And something else to note: At some point, Tayne says being delinquent on federal loans can mean the government confiscating joint tax return money. “This could impact you if you file taxes jointly as a married couple. They can also garnish your Social Security if the loan goes into default,” says Tayne.

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