<prompt> Human: Hi all,Im looking for information about how student debt works when you get married. I read the FAQ and didnt see anything specifically addressing this. Here is my situation:Me and my SO are currently very serious. She is still on her mothers health insurance, but is turning 26 in early 2015. Her current employer wants to know whether she will be joing their health insurance plan next year.I currently make a lot more than her 100k. I have about 60k in various retirement accounts, 30k in non-retirment mutual funds, and about 15k in cash. I also have no debt due to a combination of hard work and my incredibly generous parents.My SO makes about 42k a year. She has about 130k in student loansother debt. Her after tax paycheck is currently about 630 weekly. We are trying to put about 300 of that a week towards her debt. Starting in January her minimum payments will be almost 1000 a month anyway.I am not looking for advice on how to pay it all down, I am aware of the strategies.I am not looking for advice about student loans. It is mostly private debt and so the nice options you get from government loans do not apply.I am not looking for a lecture about not getting into this much debt in the first place. It happened and now we have to deal with it.ANYWAY.That is the current financial situation. As I said, the problem is her health insurance. Her employers plans are pretty terrible and expensive, with the nicest taking about 125 bucks a week from her paycheck to the worst which is 55 bucks a week. I dont even like any of them. The only upside is each year the employee contribution decreases and in year 6 you pay nothing.Obviously, that really isnt much room for that sort of expensce when almost 50 of her pay is going towards debt.Now, I plan on marrying this girl. I have no qualms going to the courthouse and just doing it sooner rather than later so I can put her on my health plan. Some day soon I will buy a ring and well have some sort of ceremony and stuff, but I am willing to just go do it tomorrow for insurance reasons.Being prudent, my questions are:1. Will they ever come after me if she cant make payment on her debt while we are married?2. What happens if something we did not work out? Would her debt ever become my debt if we seperated? We would likely have a pre-nup because she understands my assets should be protected.3. We file taxes seperately I am assuming?4. What if we purchased a home together and she couldnt make payment? Would that be at risk? I assume it would be best to just keep it under my name?5. Long shot, but is there ANY strategy for dealing with this much student debt? If I wasnt helping her out there is no way she could afford to even live. In all seriousness, I am tempted to just tell her to stop paying and see what happens. In several years, even if they sue and successfully garnish her wages, there are definitely caps on that which are WAY lower than the almost 50 of her pay she is doing right now. Wasnt actually serious. Would talking to a lawyer help? Anything?EDIT:Breakdown: Other debt is about 6k of credit card debt which should have paid off by early next year. We throw everything leftover from the 300 dollars a week at this. It was mostly educational related expenses. Sallie Mae private loans 75k has her in a forgiveness program for the student debt there . Her payments are currently 290 a month at a 2 interest rate which gets re-assessed yearly. This will go up whenif she gets raises. Chase private loan of about 25k. Currently in forebearance until December. Payment will be about 280 a month and she has called and they will not work with her. Rest is Dept of EduFederal about 30k. This is currently being consildated but by my estimates will be at around a 5.2 interest rate with a payment of about 380 a month. IBR will likely not make that any lower by my calculations.We wont be able to refinance her private debt anytime soon due to her incrediby low credit score and because we do not want her mother cosigning anything anymore. I will not cosign either due to the amount of debt.But remember, my real question is about the implications of all this when getting married.EDIT 2:I am asking this because SHE doesnt want me to be financially responsible for her and wants to be independent. I am looking for ways to make that possible. I am aware I will likely have to help out in the end but I dont care. We are getting married eventually and I was trying to understand what that meant when it came to her debt from before we met and the savings I have accumulated from before we met.I am NOT trying to get out of the responsibility of merging our finances. The bottom line is if she lost her job, or got injured, or whatever, SHE doesnt want me responsible for her previous mistakes. She doesnt want it eating away into the savings Iwe have that is meant for creating a life together.  <response>: You are going to be paying for the loans when you are married anyway, indirectly or not.Unless you expect to have different lifestyles while married, which sounds like what you are thinking. In that case she sure is lucky! 