Before You File

Credit Protection Guide

Steps to protect your credit score before, during, and after a Utah divorce — including how to separate joint accounts the right way.

Disclaimer: This guide provides general educational information and does not replace legal or financial advice. Actions like closing or transferring joint accounts can have legal, tax, and credit consequences — speak with a qualified professional before making changes.

Under review: The guidance on this page is undergoing a focused legal and financial content review. It may be updated. Until then, follow it as general education only and confirm any account actions with the account provider and a qualified professional.

Before Filing

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Pull your free credit reports — all 3 bureaus
Visit annualcreditreport.com for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can pull all three free every week — the bureaus made weekly access permanent in 2023, so there is no reason to ration it during a divorce
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Sort every account into joint, authorized user, or individual
This is the distinction the rest of this guide turns on. On a joint account (both names on the contract) you are liable for the full balance and cannot be removed — it has to be paid off, closed, or refinanced. As an authorized user you are not liable at all and can be removed with one phone call. Your credit report does not always label which is which, so call the issuer and ask
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Check for any accounts you didn't know about
Look for unfamiliar creditors or accounts opened without your knowledge — flag anything suspicious
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Note your credit score starting point
Screenshot or write down your current score — gives you a baseline to protect and measure against

During Divorce

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Don't close your own individual cards to cut your spouse off
Closing a card you have held for years shrinks your available credit and drops your score, and it doesn't limit your spouse. If they are an authorized user on your card, remove them — that's the fix, and it takes one call. Joint cards are the opposite situation: see below, they do need to be closed or frozen, because until they are you are liable for whatever your spouse charges
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Keep the joint mortgage current
Both parties are legally responsible for the mortgage regardless of who lives in the home — a missed payment hurts both credit scores
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Open a card in your own name before the decree
If you have little individual credit history, applying now is easier than applying later: while you are married you may count household income you have reasonable access to, not just your own paycheck. Report it honestly — if a card is out of reach on your own, a secured card builds history just as well
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Monitor your credit monthly during proceedings
Use Credit Karma or your bank's free credit monitoring — watch for new accounts or missed payments

Separating Joint Accounts

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Joint credit cards: freeze now, pay off and close at the decree
Ask the issuer to block new charges right away so the balance stops moving while you negotiate. Then pay it off and close it, or move the balance to whichever spouse's individual card the decree assigns it to. Closing a joint card can ding your score — accept that trade, because staying liable for your ex's spending is worse
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Joint bank accounts: open your own account immediately
Don't drain the joint account without an agreement — courts frown on this — but do open your own account right away and redirect your income there
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Mortgage: whoever keeps the house must refinance
Lenders require a refinance to remove a spouse from the mortgage — a decree alone does not release you from liability
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Auto loans: transfer title AND loan to one party
Both the title and the loan must be transferred — one without the other leaves you exposed
Important
A divorce decree does not eliminate your joint liability to a creditor. If your ex is ordered to pay a joint debt and doesn't, the creditor can still come after you. The only way to fully remove your name is to refinance, transfer, or close the account directly with the lender.

After Divorce

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Get all joint accounts officially closed per decree
Follow up with every creditor to confirm accounts are closed or transferred — don't assume the decree handles it
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Update beneficiaries on all accounts
Life insurance, retirement accounts, bank accounts — beneficiary designations override your will
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Monitor for any accounts your ex opens in your name
Set up a fraud alert with all 3 bureaus or consider a credit freeze if the relationship is adversarial
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Dispute any errors with each bureau
File disputes at equifax.com, experian.com, and transunion.com — bureaus have 30 days to investigate
Save your results
Protecting your financial future starts now.
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