When you and your spouse in Tennessee come the decision that you will no longer remain married to each other, it is time to embark on the difficult journey of splitting up your joint lives. There are many layers to this and some of the work involved focuses on separating the two of you financially. If one or both of you have student loan debt remaining from your college days, you might automatically assume that this debt will be assigned to the person who took the loans out. That may happen but it may not.
As explained by Student Loan Hero, if you were already married when the student loans were taken out, that might raise the question about whether the debt was truly for the benefit of only one person or for the benefit of both of you.
The determination of whether student loan debt is the responsibility of one of you or of both of you may also hinge on what it was used for. If your spouse took out student loans but that money was used to pay your rent or other living expenses while they were in school, it might be determined to be a shared debt and then it could become part of your property division settlement.
If you would like to learn more about how existing student loan debt might factor into your divorce settlement agreement, please feel free to visit the asset and debt distribution page of our Tennessee family law and divorce website.