CAN I BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MY WIFE'S CREDIT CARD DEBT?

I recently found out that my wife is several thousands of pesos in debt and has defaulted on a credit card. She has stopped paying this card entirely and the bank is calling her phone every day now. She doesn't answer it.

This debt was present before we got married (we are newlyweds) and the card is in her maiden name. She is in the process of changing all her ID's to her married name and I am just wondering, if the bank is informed that she is married now, if, as her husband, I can be held responsible for the debt she acquired before we were married. Thank you for the help.

If such debts redounded for the benefit of the family, then, it is chargable to your community property as husband and wife on the presumption that there was no marriage settlement agreed with respect on type of property regimes that will govern on your properties.

Such "charges(debt)" as deducted from your community property shall be considered as an advance legitime of your spouse and shall be deducted from your TOTAL properties accumulated during your union, if time comes that you have to separate your ways.

Thats what the law says...But in reality, husband will pay..hehehhe.

On the other hand, if such debts did not redound to the benefit of the family, you can argue that your wife is personally liable for such debts.

Thank you for your reply, it's very much appreciated.

Neither my wife nor I own any property at all, we just rent. The credit card charges were for her personal use before we married, we are newlyweds.

I have another question: She is now over the limit and unable to pay even the minimum. They keep charging penalty fees. They have added more than 3,000 in penalty fees and interest alone in the past couple of months.

Is there anything we can do... (we cannot pay off the card now since we have a newborn baby and that is our priority)...to stop the penalty fees and interest from accruing and maybe even to reverse some of the penalty fees?

How can we stop the debt from growing with all these penalty and interest charges? Can we request them to cut/cancel the credit card, and will that stop additional charges from being added to her debt?