Coerced Debt

Has a spouse or partner coerced, forced, or taken out credit in your name without your consent? Abusive partners often use their victim’s identity without their knowledge or consent. Texas is leading the way in addressing this problem. As of September 1, 2019 it is a crime for a person to use another’s identity without their consent or effective consent.

Effective Consent

Effective consent is the key to understanding this law and why it is so important. Effective consent means that you approve of the actions taken by another person who is allowed to act on your behalf. Consent is not effective if it is obtained by force, threat, or fraud.

In an abusive relationship consent is not given effectively. Under threat of force consent is not good. So the credit cards or other obligations taken out in your name by an abusive partner are not yours. Your abuser has effectively stolen your identity. Many times creditors won’t believe it. The two of you live at the same address, maybe you are married. Creditors have a hard time believing that you did not agree to it.

Proving that its not your debt

The law on identity theft applies to these situations. And you should should follow all the suggestions for victims of identity theft.

Texas law comes to the rescue again. You can apply for and get an order establishing your status as a victim of identity theft. After this finding there is no question that you are the victim of ID Theft. With this order in hand you can clean all the coerced debt from your credit report.