Remember the maxim that all politics are local?  All of bankruptcy law is local, too, despite the fact that it’s federal law, since bankruptcy looks to state law to determine property rights.  What happens to those property rights in bankruptcy is a matter of federal law.

My friend David Leibowitz’s statement that in a community property state, one spouse is liable for the debts of the other is,  at best, misleading under California community property law.  David practices in Wisconsin.

In California, the community property is liable for the debts of either spouse.  Property acquired during marriage is presumed to be community property, but the spouses can agree to the contrary.

The non contracting spouse has no personal liability for the spouse’s debts:  a creditor with a judgment against the spouse cannot reach the other’s separate property.

Further, in California, there is no liability for garden variety debts of the other spouse once the marriage ends:   your spouse’s debts don’t follow you after the marriage unless the judment of dissolution so provides.

My word picture in trying to explain community property and community claims to clients is that from a creditor’s perspective, the marriage really involves three entities:  two spouses and the community property:  a menage a trois, sanctioned by the law<g>.

The other point to draw here is that even input from a highly capable lawyer such as David, while accurate about the law of the state in which he practices, is not fully applicable in other states.  You cannot “research” your legal questions on the internet and get information that can be reliably applied to your situation.  That’s what lawyers are for, and why we have licenses from the state in which we practice.