Do Married Couples Have To File Bankruptcy Together?

I often receive the question from would be filers, “if I am married, does my spouse also have to file bankruptcy?”  It is not required that married couples file cases jointly.  If one spouse does not have any debt, she or he is not required to file with the filing spouse.  However, that is a very rare occurrence, as most spouse – most couples will have debts jointly.  There may be strategic reasons for a couple to file separately as well.  That can be gone into at length in a different topic, but it is not required that married couples file cases jointly.  It is simply a matter of practicality in most cases, or a decision by the couples that they want to split their filings up for strategic reasons.  In the overwhelming majority of cases, the parties file under the same case.