Are debts that were acquired after the date of separation in a West Virginia divorce considered to be marital property? For example, on September 1st, 2019, someone and their spouse separate. At that point, one spouse runs up $10,000 in debts on a new credit card. The question becomes now is this now marital deb?. The answer is generally no.
One thing that would be considered to be a marital debt would be a debt that’s acquired during the marriage under most circumstances. After the date of separation, then it’s not going to be considered to be a marital debt most often. Now, one issue that occurs during the divorce process sometimes is as to when the date of separation was. It may end up where one person thinks the date of separation is one day and the other person says that the date of separation is a completely different date.
For example, one spouse thinks that the date of the separation was on September 1st and the other says December 1st. If a disagreement of when the debt was acquired, then it’s going to be really critical that one presents the case in the right way to show the judge why the date of separation was on say September 1st, rather than December 1st. The reason this is important is because if the court establishes that the data separation was December 1st and they acquired the debt between September 1st and December 1st, then it’s going to totally change the equation.
If it’s after the date of separation, whatever the date may be, then it’s going to be considered non marital debt. If one acquires a debt and it was after the date of separation, generally speaking, they cannot claim in court legitimately that that is a marital debt because it was after the date of separation. There can be circumstances where it can be factored into the equation when it comes to spousal support, but strictly referring to property distribution. The general rule of thumb is after the date of separation any debt is usually going to be considered marital debt.
