Am I responsible for federal or private student loans in the event of divorce or deat

Sunshine62583 · #1 Feb 12, 2008, 04:25 PM

My fiance and I want to get married but he has federal & personal student loans amounting to over $250,000. He wants to get life insurance before we get married just in case anything ever happened to him, the loans would be paid off...however, someone was telling me that in the state of FL I would not be responsible for his loans in this situation or in the event of divorce because the loans were accumulated before our marriage...or before we even met. Is this true??? Where can I find more information of laws for this. Thanks for any help or information...

George_1950 · Feb 12, 2008, 07:16 PM

The purchase of life insurance is not connected with the timing of your marriage; depending on his age and health, he can get $1 million or more relatively cheap. You aren't responsible for his debts, but his estate is. What is his estate? Anything he owns at the time of death. So, if you marry and purchase a home, depending on how it is titled, when he dies your home can be responsible for payment of his debts.
More information at: State of Florida.com - Florida Probate Guide

Sunshine62583 · Feb 13, 2008, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George_1950

The purchase of life insurance is not connected with the timing of your marriage; depending on his age and health, he can get $1 million or more relatively cheap. You aren't responsible for his debts, but his estate is. What is his estate? Anything he owns at the time of death. So, if you marry and purchase a home, depending on how it is titled, when he dies your home can be responsible for payment of his debts.
More information at: State of Florida.com - Florida Probate Guide

he currently does not have any estate..we were going to purchase a house, but I doubt he will be on the loan b/c of his debt-income ratio. Would it be best for me to just finance and title it in just my name??? Before we get married???

George_1950 · Feb 13, 2008, 01:23 PM

You can purchase your home together and have it titled so that it does not go into an estate: joint tenancy with right of survivorship. The way real estate is titled is a matter of state law. Your challenge is that you marry and he dies ten years later, owing $200k; his estate is liable for the debt and that is the reason for life insurance, as well as support for you and your family.



At Ask Me Help Desk you can ask questions in any topic and have them answered for free by our experts. To ask questions or participate in answering them you must register for a free account. By registering you will be able to: Get free answers from experts in any of our 300+ topics. Accept money for answers that you provide. Communicate privately with other members (PM). See fewer ads. Sign Up!