What to do about student debt after divorce?

Questioner

My son is going through a divorce, he no longer has any student debt, but now his wife wants to recover her student debt of 50,000 euros from him. Before the marriage she said she was busy graduating, which she lied about for over 7 months, 3 days after the marriage she said she was no longer busy with her studies and did not intend to finish it either. They have been married for almost 2 years, in community of property.

Lawyer

Day There are some exempted assets that do not fall within a community, but in my opinion, student debt falls outside of that. For example, compensation for pain and suffering or a golden handshake.

Questioner

Okay, but if you search on the internet, for example at DUO, it says that a student debt is not recovered from the partner, Ask I am getting divorced/no longer living together. Does this also have consequences for the repayment of my loan? Answer Your loan from the Education Executive Agency (DUO) is a debt in your name. DUO will therefore not recover this debt from your ex-partner. Has your financial situation changed as a result of the divorce? Then you could apply for a reduction of the monthly amount. If you started a course on or after 1 August 2009 (mbo) or 1 September (hbo/university), we will calculate the monthly amount by default based on your income and that of your partner, if applicable. If you get divorced/no longer live together, this may have consequences for the repayment of your loan. You must report the termination of your relationship using the Change Repayment of Student Debt form, after which we will assess whether this has consequences for the repayment of your loan.

Lawyer

Day that is nice of DUO, a distinction should be made between where partners are mutually obliged to divide (internal liability) and external liability. It is possible that in case law student debt is still seen as an attached debt, but that requires more research, I may come back to it today.

Lawyer

Day as I thought, the student debt falls into the community so that it is susceptible to being offset, for example, with other assets. DUO will still want to recover the entire debt afterwards and will do so from the person in whose name the debt is.

Lawyer

Mrs Ferwerda is right, a study debt is not attached and therefore falls within the community of property. See for this, among others, MJA van Mourik, Marital Property Law (Kluwer, 2009) p. 83. I have to admit that on the DUO website it seems that the administrative body will not collect the debt from the ex-spouse. However, that is not the case, a bit further on it says: 'Only in the case of outstanding debts can a bailiff, if you are married in community of property, also seize your partner's property.' If there are no other assets, your son will indeed be responsible for 50% of his ex-partner's student debt. .

Questioner

Does this mean that the Duo will recover the student debt from his ex and that she will then have to file a lawsuit against my son to force him to contribute?