Marrying a partner with lots of debt?

[Steve Hall]

I just read "Walking the Tightrope between Debt and Leverage" by @Anthony Gayden where he talks about an impressive dig out from crushing debt. What I found interesting was that when he married his wife, she brought $30,000 in debt into their marriage.

@Matt Millard also posted where he married into $120k in student loan and credit card debt.

My own brother married into $50k in student loan and credit card debt.

I got divorced after 20+ years of marriage and gave up half of all my assets, and then married into debt! (My new wife has a 2 year old, and owes $150k in child support over the next 16 years)

So I'm curious about all of you other married investors (or soon to be investors)... Did you marry into debt? (obviously I mean "bad" debt here.)

I'd like to hear from the women too, because it seems (so far) that it's the men who are the stupid ones!

Yeah, "stupid" is a strong word, but consider this: would you buy a property for $180k with rehab costs of $20k and your ARV is 150k ( market rent: $600 / month)? If someone on BP posts that they just did that, wouldn't we call them stupid?

[Matthew Paul]

I got engaged to my now wife , she had a good bit of debt . Told her we would get married when she was debt free . I took over her finances , gave her an allowance and 7 months later she was there .  The wedding was 4 months later .  Now I never told her she was out of debt , I invested her money and after 1 year she needed a car .  Her jaw dropped when she saw her balance . Over 15 K , which is a bundle since she had never had over 2 grand in the bank .  I taught her one thing they dont teach in school , basic fiscal management .