RE: Dealing with wife's credit card debt.?

My friend (who is frugal, but not cheap!) just found out that his wife has amassed credit card debt of 60k-100k. His house is paid off as are his vehicles, his credit is perfect. I do not believe they have bad credit yet. I believe that most if not all cards are in her name. He has about 25k in cash and perhaps another 25K in his checking. He wants to fix her credit card problem for her before he divorces her, he has a good hospital pension. If you have experience with this, what are his best options? His wife is a retired teacher. I am concerned that if he re-mortgages his house and his name is attached to that mortgage, she may get into more trouble. She wouldnt do this on purpose to be spiteful, but sometime I feel if you get out of trouble too easy you don't learn a lesson from it. I think it might be better if maybe he pays off half of her debt and she goes back to work to pay off the rest (after getting a loan in her name for it) Please help!!! They are 63 years old.

RE: Dealing with wife's credit card debt.?

Even if the debt is only in her name, he is her spouse and the debt is going to affect him as well. If he wants to buy anything were his wife's income info is needed, it may hurt his chances of getting said item. If something were to happen to her, he would be responsible for assuming 100% of her credit card payments. So I see why your friend would want to help her pay it off. However, if he is planning on divorcing her, her impulsive behavior, could work in his favor during divorce proceedings. Also, it sounds like her behavior, from a psychiatric standpoint is troubling. She needs counseling, not just financial counseling, but psychological. Usually spending of that type is caused by underlying issues.

RE: Dealing with wife's credit card debt.?

You have very valid concerns. First she should go for counseling.

RE: Dealing with wife's credit card debt.?

He should consult a good family law lawyer. I'm not sure, but in the event of a divorce, it might be possible that he'd have to split the debts as well as the assets.

Edit

I found a reference that supports the above assumption:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/divorce...

I don't recommend refinancing the house at this time; deal with it all with the divorce. He should focus on his own situation rather than trying to teach her %26quot;lessons%26quot;.

RE: Dealing with wife's credit card debt.?

Easy.

If you are going through all of this effort to reorganize her debt JUST SO you can avoid the %26quot;hot mess%26quot; that you KNOW will take place when the divorce happens -- YOU SHOULD GET HER on a DEBT DIET for 24 - 36 months.

True. Get her to downsize her debt from 100K to 50K and then divorce her, but honestly -- divorcing her at 63 doesn't sound like the most intelligent move either.

She needs to do some consulting work for a needy Board of Education who needs well-trained retired teachers to go back to the classroom and handle the bay-bays of the millennium.

I heard the Boards pay retired teachers goo-gobs of money to come out of retirement.