Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Limitations of a Divorce Decree

So you have hammered out who gets what now that the two of you are going to live apart, and you probably have had an attorney help you negotiate and draw up the legal documents. Finally the court issues its judicial ruling on the division of assets; who pays what, and to whom it is paid.  It is then entered into the court and public record. Debts are also divided; one will pay the department store charges, the other will make the car payments, and so on.
All of this has force of law, the power of the court in all of its authority. What does that mean to your credit future? The creditors with whom you and your former spouse have signed contracts/agreements with are not affected by the court allocation and decree. The court ruling applies only to the two of you, both are still bound by the contract(s) you signed prior to the court ruling. The court is not directing your creditors to change the contracts that you both signed. Those contracts are not affected. The creditor is still holding both parties responsible for the payment owed on those accounts. It doesn’t matter to them who the court deemed responsible. As such, any payments due then and in the future are the responsiblity of any person on that contract.  This is true for credit accounts (credit cards, store charge cards), any kind of loan or lease (cars, motorcycles, trucks, real estate – apartment, store front, warehouse, office space), any secured credit such as a mortgage (any loan secured by real estate), etc. Any joint bank or credit union accounts are not affected. Either of you has access to the accounts, until someone (you) notifies the financial institution of the change. It is not enough to tell the bank or credit union what the court ruled, because they know that the court decree is directed to you and your ex-spouse, not towards the financial institution. That is why the best way to prevent credit damage due to the actions of an ex-spouse – intentional or not – is for you to take control of the situation and issue the proper notification to protect yourself and your family.