Rete

> Respectfully... I disagree! I think that in most cases, the exact
> opposite is true.
>
> Ian

And I have to amend that to read:

One SHOULD go into marriage.............

Ian-Mstm

> And I have to amend that to read:
>
> One SHOULD go into marriage.............

Right then... we're square!

Ian

Texas_Dave

> Hi every one,
>
> I am a foreigner married to a US citizen. I am a very responsible
> person financially. I do not buy any expensive thing on credit and
> spend according to my means. I do not have any significant loan.. I
> even have bought my cars on cash.
>
> My wife is a student. She has $400,000 Student Loans debt. Some times
> I
> help her financially, but she is living off of her loans, and waiting
> to graduate. She has not made more than $100 since I married her. So
> we
> have only one income.
>
> To my horror, I have recently discovered that in US, just by virtue of
> marriage, not only I share the assets with my wife (she has no asset
> what so ever), I share her hefty loan as well. I love my wife, but
> $400,000 is a dreadful amount. I am just worried if she dies tomorrow
> by a car accident or some thing, how on earth I will pay this loan.
> However, I will mention that I never co-signed any loan with her.
>
> Is this right that I am liable for her loan, while her contribution to
> our assets is almost none? Can I have some post marriage agreement so
> that I won't be liable for her debts?
>
> Any advice is helpful.

$400,000 seems a lot. My wife graduates next year with $94,000 student
loan debt. Although she didn't take loans for her undergraduate degree.
Her doctorate required many expensive books, and her spending habits are
not frugal. How long has your wife been in school?
In Texas her loans are her loans. Unless I take a student loan and we
then consolidated them in to one loan, her loans will always be her
responsibility (legally). If she dies, they die with her. As these loans
are federal I would have thought this was the same all over the US?
We recently consolidated her loans to lock in a 2.875% rate, and sought
advice before doing so. Everything I was told, and read on the documents
stated the above. We were going to take out a life insurance policy to
pay off her loans, God forbid she should have an accident etc. We were
told it was not necessary.
What state are you in?

Texas_Dave

> $400,000 seems a lot. My wife graduates next year with $94,000 student
> loan debt. Although she didn't take loans for her undergraduate
> degree. Her doctorate required many expensive books, and her spending
> habits are not frugal. How long has your wife been in school?
> In Texas her loans are her loans. Unless I take a student loan and we
> then consolidated them in to one loan, her loans will always be her
> responsibility (legally). If she dies, they die with her. As these
> loans are federal I would have thought this was the same all over the
> US?
> We recently consolidated her loans to lock in a 2.875% rate, and
> sought advice before doing so. Everything I was told, and read on the
> documents stated the above. We were going to take out a life insurance
> policy to pay off her loans, God forbid she should have an accident
> etc. We were told it was not necessary.
> What state are you in?

Consult the info here:
http://www.dl.ed.gov/

extract from the site:
Can my loan(s) ever be discharged?

Yes. A discharge releases you from all obligation to repay your loan.
You can receive a discharge with proof of the following:

You become totally and permanently disabled. This cannot be for a
condition that existed at the time you applied for the Direct Loan
unless a doctor certifies that your condition substantially deteriorated
after the loans were made.
You are unable to complete a course of study because your school closed
or because your school falsely certified your eligibility.
Your obligation to repay a loan may be discharged in bankruptcy court
proceedings.
Your Direct Loans may be discharged upon your death.
In the event of the death of the student for whom a PLUS Loan was
obtained.
Teacher�s with new loans after October 1, 1998 teaching in selected
low-income schools for five years may be eligible for the Teacher Loan
Forgiveness Discharge, up to $17,500. For eligibility requirements for
Teacher Loan Forgiveness, please "click here.
You are due but unable to obtain a refund from your school on your
Direct Loan.
If a Consolidation loan was obtained jointly by a married couple, a
partial discharge may be granted if one of the borrowers dies or becomes
totally and permanently disabled.
If a Consolidation loan includes a Federal PLUS and/or Direct PLUS loan
borrowed for a student that has died, the portion of the Consolidation
loan attributable to the student that has died may be discharged.

SecretGarden

> Consult the info here:
> http://www.dl.ed.gov/
>
> extract from the site:
> Can my loan(s) ever be discharged?
>
> Yes. A discharge releases you from all obligation to repay your loan.
> You can receive a discharge with proof of the following:
>
> You become totally and permanently disabled. This cannot be for a
> condition that existed at the time you applied for the Direct Loan
> unless a doctor certifies that your condition substantially
> deteriorated after the loans were made.
> You are unable to complete a course of study because your school
> closed or because your school falsely certified your eligibility.
> Your obligation to repay a loan may be discharged in bankruptcy court
> proceedings.
> Your Direct Loans may be discharged upon your death.
> In the event of the death of the student for whom a PLUS Loan was
> obtained.
> Teacher�s with new loans after October 1, 1998 teaching in selected
> low-income schools for five years may be eligible for the Teacher Loan
> Forgiveness Discharge, up to $17,500. For eligibility requirements for
> Teacher Loan Forgiveness, please "click here.
> You are due but unable to obtain a refund from your school on your
> Direct Loan.
> If a Consolidation loan was obtained jointly by a married couple, a
> partial discharge may be granted if one of the borrowers dies or
> becomes totally and permanently disabled.
> If a Consolidation loan includes a Federal PLUS and/or Direct PLUS
> loan borrowed for a student that has died, the portion of the
> Consolidation loan attributable to the student that has died may be
> discharged.

"Teacher�s with new loans after October 1, 1998 teaching in selected
low-income schools for five years may be eligible for the Teacher Loan
Forgiveness Discharge, up to $17,500. For eligibility requirements for
Teacher Loan Forgiveness, please "click here.


Dave, PLEASE tell me it doesn't really say, "teacher's with new
loans"...........

Whomever is typing and proofing that website needed a teacher to explain
the difference between plurals and possessives........

*sigh*
~SecretGarden
(who wonders what in the world this country is coming to....or is
that too?)

Texas_Dave

> "Teacher�s with new loans after October 1, 1998 teaching in selected
> low-income schools for five years may be eligible for the Teacher Loan
> Forgiveness Discharge, up to $17,500. For eligibility requirements for
> Teacher Loan Forgiveness, please "click here.
>
>
> Dave, PLEASE tell me it doesn't really say, "teacher's with new
> loans"...........
>
> Whomever is typing and proofing that website needed a teacher to
> explain the difference between plurals and possessives........
>
> *sigh*
> ~SecretGarden
> (who wonders what in the world this country is coming to....or is that
> too?)

When a school crossing sign reads "XING", next to another that says "no
thru road", it is little wonder . . .

Dan725

> Actually, many people would think you have the weird ideas. One goes
> into a marriage realistically and without blinders or rose colored
> glasses. A woman who has incurred a debt of $400,000 for educational
> purposes, is not a woman who is worldly about finances and should not
> be treated as a child and have her debts paid off someone else.
> Marriage should not be entered into as a means to clear one's past bad
> financial habits.
>
> I went into a marriage with debt and paid them off on my own without
> asking my husband for a penny. My former debts are my responsibility
> not his. Her debts are her responsibilities and not his. Let her get
> a job and pay off what she borrowed in good faith. Her husband should
> not be held liable for her financial debts incurred prior to their
> marriage.

True, he shouldn't be on the hook per-se, it doesn't seem very fair,
however I'd find it very strange if you are sharing a house with someone
you love and you sit there with a huge plateful at one end of the table
and your wife sits there eating ramen noodles at the other, so to speak,
while the husband says "Hahaha, I've got loadsa money and your up to
your eyeballs, I'm married to you and I love you, but its your problem,
and when the collectors come you'd best not involve me!"

Rete

> True, he shouldn't be on the hook per-se, it doesn't seem very fair,
> however I'd find it very strange if you are sharing a house with
> someone you love and you sit there with a huge plateful at one end of
> the table and your wife sits there eating ramen noodles at the other,
> so to speak, while the husband says "Hahaha, I've got loadsa money and
> your up to your eyeballs, I'm married to you and I love you, but its
> your problem, and when the collectors come you'd best not involve me!"

Of course if they were living together you would assume that they would
share the household costs or the one with the income will do it alone.
However, from his post it sounds as if they are living apart and she is
using her loans for housing, etc. as well as tutition. I know this is
the norm for graduate work. My nephew took such a loan for his law
school tutition and expenses. He also worked on weekends but even with
this law school costs from a top University in DC it only came to
$100,000 and not $400,000 for the law degree.