Loss of Income

• Spouses who did not work outside of the home, or worked part-time during the marriage while the other spouse worked full-time, will suffer a significant drop in household income after the divorce. This may result in the spouse who worked part-time no longer being able to afford monthly expenses, including rent, mortgage, car payments and utility bills. If these spouses cannot find full-time work to replace the lost income resulting from the divorce, they may find they have to move out of their home into something more affordable. If they can no longer afford their car payments after divorce, they may have to sell the vehicle or lose it to repossession.
  
  

Credit Cards and Loans

• For credit cards and loans in which both spouses are joint account holders or co-borrowers, they are both legally responsible for the debt. Problems arise when one spouse is the primary account holder or borrower on a loan or credit card and the other spouse is an authorized user. Credit card companies and banks will often hold the primary account holder responsible for paying the outstanding balance on the account no matter what the divorce agreement dictates.
  
  

Support Orders

• The court may order one spouse to pay spousal support, also referred to as alimony, to the other spouse. This support payment will cause a drop in income for the paying spouse. If the divorcing couple has children and one spouse becomes the custodial parent, the non-custodial parent will have to pay child support, which will also cause a drop in income for the paying spouse. If the spouses agree to split physical and legal custody, then neither party pays child support.
  
  

Health Insurance

• When one spouse carries health insurance through an employee group plan and adds family members to that plan, insurance companies refer to the other spouse as the dependent spouse and the children as dependent children. Once the divorce is final, the insurance company will drop the dependent spouse from the plan. The insurance company will then offer that spouse benefits through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act or COBRA. With COBRA, spouses who lose their health insurance as the result of a divorce have to pay the full cost of the health insurance premium.