Question: My wife and I recently separated and, to my dismay, I learned for the first time that she had run up debts on our joint credit cards and on cards in my name on which I had given her the right to make charges. I assumed that, as a part of a court order, she could be made to assume and pay the debts she ran up. After a hearing, my lawyer was able to convince the judge to require her to pay certain debts, but she has now taken off to parts unknown, is not making the payments, and my credit is getting ruined. My lawyer now tells me there is nothing left to do but pay the debts.

Answer: Unfortunately, your problem is pervasive among folks in your situation. Simply put, even though a judge orders one spouse to pay certain debts, the contractual arrangement between creditor and debtor remains unaltered because the creditor is not a party to the divorce case. Therefore, no matter what the judge says, the legally responsible person remains obligated. Your remedy against your wife -- if you can find her -- is contempt. A word to the wise: Everyone -- whether thinking about divorce or not -- should look closely at who is allowed to use your credit.

Basically, credit comes in two flavors: individual and joint. With either, you can allow third persons – like spouses or children -- to use the account even though they aren’t legally responsible to pay the resulting debt.

If you have individual credit accounts, no one else can adversely affect your credit record – unless you allow them to charge. However, if you are a spouse who does not work outside the home, you may have trouble getting individual credit without your spouse signing for you.

When applying for a joint account, the income, assets, and credit histories of both spouses are considered, meaning that the financial picture of both spouses may encourage the creditor to make the loan or issue a credit card; however, even if the divorce decree makes one spouse responsible for paying joint accounts, both spouses are responsible for the debt.

So, before separation or divorce, make sure to look into your credit status and your accounts. If there are joint accounts, make regular payments or your credit will suffer. And it is good preventative medicine to write creditors and have them close all joint accounts or accounts on which your former spouse was an authorized user at the hint of marital problems. On the other hand, if you don’t have credit in your name, you might ask the creditor to convert the joint account into your account, but the creditor has no obligation to change joint accounts to individual ones.

These caveats include not only credit cards, but also automobile loans, mortgages, home equity loans, and revolving credit lines and accounts. So if you are concerned, ask the court to allow you to pay directly the debt your spouse has incurred and deduct the payments from support or other payments so you can make sure the payments are made.

Bottom line: Your credit record will be hurt if your former spouse does not pay obligations on which you are liable. If you initially signed the credit application, no matter what the court says, you are still legally responsible for payment if your spouse does not pay.