Law Lessons from ANN and GEORGE RIENZO v. FREDERIC PARISI, App. Div., A-3083-06T1, January 24, 2008:

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The doctrine of necessaries is a common law rule imposing liability on both spouses for the debt of one spouse, provided that the debt was incurred for “necessaries” for the family, and the debtor spouse is unable to pay the debt. Jersey Shore Med. Ctr. v. Baum, 84 N.J. 137, 141 (1980). A necessary is a good or service provided to one spouse that benefits both. Id. at 141-49. The doctrine derived from the common law rule requiring a husband to support his wife. Id. at 141. The duty to support imposes liability on the husband for necessaries furnished to the wife because the expenses incurred by the wife presume a failure on the part of the husband to provide necessaries for her. Id. at 142. The doctrine is applied equally to both husbands and wives. Id. at 148-49. It provides:

[B]oth spouses are liable for necessary expenses incurred by either spouse in the course of the marriage. . . . [T]he financial resources of both spouses should be available to pay a creditor who provides necessary goods and services to either spouse. . . . [A] judgment creditor must first seek satisfaction from the income and other property of the spouse who incurred the debt. If those financial resources are insufficient, the creditor may then seek satisfaction from the income and property of the other spouse.

[Id. at 141.]

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But see: National Account Systems, Inc. v. Mercado, 196 N.J. Super. 133 (App. Div. 1984) (Wife not liable for the hospital bills of her husband from whom she had been separated for four years).

See related article by Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq.: Insolvent Estates and Related Issues

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