When my hubby died last year we had a credit score of almost 800. Just him dying shot it down to 690 (I know 690 is still good, but I didn’t do anything wrong to lose 100 points. So now I am just pissed at the FICO system and I kind of object to it now). He left me with no insurance. My income is about 1/3 of what it would have been together. The problem is he left me with all this debt, only I have less income to pay it off with. Im only 26, In college (free for me as a vet) and I am basically only going to go to college to buy time because IDK what I want to do when I graduate. I live on a teeny bit of Social Security for widows and orphans (we have 2 kids) and a teeny bit of rent from the mobile home I rent out (on land I inherited free and clear). the debt is about half my income now and that is only for a year because I told my creditors to reduce my payments because now that my hubby is gone I cannot afford to live. So they reduced everything to 3% interest for A YEAR and split the payments to almost half. when the year is up than I suppose the debt would be 3/4 my income. I could call to renew it another year they said. ITs not fair because I already paid off my half of the debt (my late husband and I were kind of taking turns as far as being the breadwinner) and then he goes and dies when it is his turn! (I mean on top of just the grief and missing him) The debt is a personal loan from improving our land and also credit card debt (also to improve the land but we were about to refi to lower interest home equity but since he died I no longer qualify for the refi -__- just when I need it the most) and the car I had to refi that to save monthly debt so I have 7 years on it. I couldnt sell it because it was upside down, believe me I tried. Nothing will sell. Not even my property for what its worth because of the stupid recession (Which I think gave my hubby the heart attack in the first place)
Anyways I reconnected with an old (veteran) colleague on facebook and we hit it off romantically and its pretty obvious that he wants to marry me. But I don’t want to swamp him with my debts. I know how that feels and it sucks! He has no debt. Although having the income high enough to qualify to for the home equity would be nice for me. Gah. DO we have to wait the 7 years for it all to be paid off to be fair? This will be difficult as I will not cohabitate with someone I am not married to, Especially with my girls. THis is not how I planned to raise them. They were supposed to see a loving husband and wife. Not shacking up. SO I won’t be doing that either.
Im just so pissed about my finances right now. I wasn’t the money manager in my family so I am super stressed out. He says my debts are fine and I can pay them off but I really dont want to see my interest rates climb from the temporarily low ones as they are now. I don’t think he fully grasps the severity when he says it will be OK so cavelierly. How is it going to be OK?
What am I supposed to do for the future of my relationship with my boyfreind? I want to do right by him. I wouldn’t wish this feeling on him (or anyone I know).

Debt does NOT make ANYONE Unmarriable.
What makes someone unmarriable is their looks, if they have bad breath, if they have poor hygiene, if they have a bad temper, if they are alcoholic or drug users and if they have a tongue so sharp that they can cut any potential suitors with it.
If your boyfriend loves you enough and you don’t have any of the above defects that I have mentioned then he will marry you (assuming your boyfriend is a normal human being).
I saw the initial question, but didn’t bother wading through Days of Our Lives. So, to answer you, apparently your debt doesn’t prevent your marriageability as you’ve got someone willing to marry you. As for what you’re supposed to do, there’s lots of options, all of them your decision. I’d think the FIRST ONE being, make sure he has life insurance on himself.
I’m not sure about laws in your state but it might be possible to make a pre-nup agreement to allow the debt to remain only in your name. I think it’s worth a $100 or so to a lawyer to get an answer.
Your husband left you with serious debt and no insurance. You cannot blame anyone else for that.
It seems rather inappropriate to be thinking of remarriage less than a year after your husband’s death. Many people would regard this as crass and tasteless, and clearly implies you didn’t value your late husband so much