Wife pays debt is a legal doctrine that allows a wife to be held liable for her husband’s debts. This doctrine is based on the common law principle that a husband and wife are one legal entity. As such, a wife could be held liable for her husband’s debts even if she did not personally incur them, the debts incurred were after the divorce, or if she did not benefit from them.
The wife pays debt doctrine has been criticized as being unfair to women. In many cases, wives are not aware of their husband’s debts or have no control over how he spends money. As a result, they may be held liable for debts that they did not know about or that they did not agree to. In some cases, wives may even be forced to sell their own property to pay off their husband’s debts.