Edmund Andrews responded to this and claimed that the largest of the BK's was due to his wife's ex-husband's failure to file tax returns for 5 years. McArdle points out that you can't simply discharge IRS debts in a normal bankruptcy. That's two strikes now on Andrews, who continues to collect plaudits from the journo elites for his courage while evading simple questions about his story.
Which is, IMHO, more interesting that the article here. Apparently she spent only $10 to do all the investigating of the former bankruptcy filing, tax records, etc.
I've always been told that before you marry someone you should discuss money.
Whether that be how much credit card debt and student loans they have outstanding, how much money they have saved up, or whether they have declared bankruptcy it is important to know the financial history of someone you are legally tied to.
I shared a bank account with Abby before getting married. Having intertwined finances is actually good practive. It's also a dead simple way to split things down the middle. Get a join account, each put in $X/mo., and don't worry about having to split anything after that. Just pay with the joint account. If someone makes Y times more, just put in Y*$X, if you're into punishing success :)
In your plan, do you each have individual accounts in addition to the shared account?
We sort of go the opposite route, with individual accounts for discretionary spending, and a separate account for paying the fixed costs, including the allowances to discretionary spending. We found that spending from a shared account required excessive coordination. It was easier for us to separate the responsibilities and manage our own budgets, like departments in a corporation.
Aha. This changes the perspective of that NYT article completely, because the NYT article does mention (but not blame) the spending habits of the wife breaking the budget.
Actually, this was one of the main points I took away from that article -- even if you make good financial decisions, your partner can ruin you. Apparently that is true :)
