When you divorce, you must adjust many details of your life. From deciding where you will live and how to pay your expenses to adjusting your work and social schedule to fit your new life, divorced or divorcing individuals have many things to do. If you have student loan debt, learning how your divorce will affect that debt and deciding how you will manage it now and into the future is something that you must do. The first thing that all divorced or divorcing individuals with student loans need to know is that it is crucial that you keep your loans in good standing.  If you or your soon to be former spouse are having trouble making your scheduled student loan payments, contact your lender right away. Tell the lender what is happening in your life, and ask them to explain your options for keeping your loans in good standing. You may be able to postpone your student loan payments to a later date, temporarily suspend payments through forbearance, or make reduced payments for a while. Taking action to keep your loans in good standing now can help you avoid defaulting on your student loans, no matter how awful your current financial picture may be.

In addition to taking steps to keep all student loans in good standing, divorcing couples must decide who will ultimately assume legal responsibility for each student loan debt. This is a part of the property settlement process, where the couple works with their attorneys to determine who will pay which debts and who will walk away from the divorce with which assets. Texas is a community property state. The deciding factor for who must assume responsibility for each student loan debt is when each of those debts was acquired. If either of you obtained student loans before you married, those loans are the responsibility of the spouse who obtained them. Some couples attend college after they marry or they take turns going to college and working. If either of you took out student loans after you got married, those loans are part of your marital property. In a Texas divorce, marital property is divided equally among the divorcing spouses. Since marital property includes the total of all of the debts and all of the assets that the divorcing spouses obtained during their marriage, you and your soon to be former spouse can each expect to be held responsible for an equal dollar amount of those shared debts and to receive an equal dollar amount of the shared assets.

Whether you, your spouse or both are ordered by the court to take responsibility for student loan debt according to your divorce decree, it is critical that the lenders receive notice of the divorce and of the order stating who is responsible for each loan. As I mentioned before, if you run into trouble with making timely payments on your loans, contact your lenders right away. Many lenders will be able to present you with a variety of options for keeping your student loan repayment on track, and you can select a repayment option that meets your current needs.

Keeping your student loan payments on track is part of working through your Texas divorce. For help with all of your Texas divorce questions, call Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.