How student loan debt can affect a Pennsylvania marriage

Student loans help young people achieve their educational dreams. However, when it comes to a life lived happily ever after, student loans are creating havoc for people in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States.

A new study from Student Loan Hero, a website that helps consumers to manage their education debt., makes the impact of student loan debt clear. According to the group, 13 percent of the divorced population says student loan debt was responsible for their split.

In all, more than 33 percent of the 800-plus divorced respondents said money issues in general contributed to the couple’s divorce.

Student loan debt is very real fact of life for young people today. Student loan debt now totals $1.5 trillion in the United States, according to CNBC. The average borrower owes slightly more than $34,000, and the percentage of those who owe in excess of $50,000 has tripled in the last ten years.

For couples starting out, this leads to an inability to do what they want to do, whether that desire is for travel, buying their first home, starting a family or leaving a job to open a business. Debt also leads to the inevitable ensuing frustration.

In instances where both halves of a couple enter the marriage with student debt, or especially when just one party does, a prenuptial agreement can help ease some of the resentment that occurs in a marriage over those debts. While we think of prenups as safeguarding assets, they also can prevent against debt.

In a marriage where money is co-mingled to pay the bills, one spouse is paying part of the student loan debt of the other. A prenup could specify that any money Spouse A contributed to the debt of Spouse B would be refunded back in a divorce. So, Spouse A would be reimbursed, essentially, in the case of divorce.

Marriage has a lot of ups and downs, and people who have student loan debt seem to present another hurdle to jump in a relationship. A family law attorney can help if you want a prenuptial agreement to address the student loan issue, or offer guidance to end your marriage if this hurdle proves too high.