5 steps to protect credit in a divorce

Check your credit report and note every credit card that lists your spouse as an authorized user, which means your spouse is not responsible for repaying any debts incurred, but is able to charge on the account. It's easy to remove an authorized user from your credit card. Simply call the credit card issuer and ask for your spouse's name to be removed.

It's just as important that you get removed as an authorized user from your spouse's credit card accounts, because they can still be included on your credit report as well as factored into your credit score, says Barry Paperno, consumer operations manager for myFICO.com.

However, Experian says it only includes authorized user accounts on its credit reports if the history is positive.

You should be able to contact the credit card issuer yourself and have your name removed if your spouse refuses to do it. If the credit card issuer doesn't allow it, then contact the credit reporting agencies and dispute the inclusion of the account on your credit report, Paperno says.