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You better get your name OFF anything she can run up & leave you obligated with.
She can stop paying ANY portion of the mortgage & if you ever sell she can stop the sale & or get a portion of the equity (if any, she may have borrowed against already & you may owe that)
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Agreed.
Some creditors are willing to work with you if you talk to them. Their feeling are if she declares bankruptcy & drags you down too then they get 100% of 0 where they may be able to negoiate with you 100% of your half.
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Creditors may be willing to work with you, but a creditor is never left with 100% of 0. Non-equity credit accounts these days are insured. If you default on it, then the person who extended the credit has to file an insurance claim. The more they claim, the more their insurance rates go up. That's why people with good credit get lower interest rates, as they are perceived as a low risk. Either way, the creditor is never left holding the bag. And in instances where there is an asset the asset becomes the property of the creditor via the methods of foreclosure and reposession. Most creditors will not seperate debt and are not legally obligated to if it was started as a joint account.
My personal advice if you're seriously planning on leaving her:
Start your own accounts, a checking and a savings, at two different banks than the one you use now and do not deposit any more funds into the joint account.
Call as many of your creditors as you can and have all of the joint accounds cancelled immediately. They will still continue to bill you for any balances owed and interest, but no new charges can be applied to the account. The worst case scenario is you may have to eat this debt if she decides not to pay, but it's better than her running it up higher than it already is.
Get in touch with a lawyer to find out what your legal responsibilities are, since common law marriage is the jurisdiction of the state you live in, and it varries between them. In some states, being engaged and/or living together gives you the same rights as actually being married. This is why it's never a good idea to live with someone you are not married to. You get very few of the protections and many of the liabilities.
Good luck.
God Bless Texas