Even after a separation, couples are usually jointly responsible for paying off loans.
© Christin Klose
Who will pay off the loan after a breakup? Basically, couples have to pay it off together – unless one of the two gets the sole benefit from the loan.
Brandenburg (dpa / tmn) – After a separation, spouses are usually jointly liable for a joint loan. It can behave differently if one of the ex-partners alone benefits from part of the loan. That has Brandenburg Higher Regional Court decided (Az .: 9 UF 93/19), as reported by the Family Law Working Group of the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV).
In the negotiated case, the couple had taken out a loan of 38,000 euros. They used around 18,000 euros of this to redeem another loan. With this they had financed a car. The car was the family vehicle. After the couple separated in late 2015, the man used the car alone.
The man paid the loan installments. He asked his former partner to reimburse half of the installments he had paid since their separation. She should release him halfway for the future.
The court found the man only partially right. His ex-partner does not have to be liable for the around 18,000 euros that went into rescheduling the car loan. When the family separated, the vehicle was no longer available because only the husband used it.
He who alone has the benefit must also bear the burden alone. The remainder of the loan must each half be paid by men and women. According to the law, joint and several debtors are equally liable, unless otherwise specified, and there is no evidence of this in the present case. There are also no indications that the man used the money for his own purposes.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210330-99-31813 / 2
Judgment of the Higher Regional Court Brandenburg
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