Joint Liability

Joint liability obligues two or more individuals to repay a debt or be liable for fulfilling a liability. A joint liability lets partners share the risks connected with taking of debt and to defend themselves in the case of judicial proceedings. A single applicant to joint liability can be called as "jointly liable”.

Definition of Joint Liability

Joint liability for a debt occurs when two or more clients request jointly for credit in a position of co-borrowers, which is considered to be in a general partnership. According to the general partnership regulations, any side conducting an agreement with or without other partners being aware automatically includes all partners to that contract. In the event when a court reveals that a partnership is by their own fault in a lawsuit, then each partner is liable to pay any monetary compensation or joint liability. In this way, any side who enters a joint liability contract has to be cautious that they too are responsible for the operation of each other as it belongs to the partnership.

Examples

Joint liability would be assumed if a couple signs for a loan. If one partner passes away, the other one remains liable for the loan balance being a co-signer. Nevertheless, this depends upon the failure to meet obligations by the borrower.

In terms of taking joint liability, lenders may file a suit once for any debt. In the case of partnerships, creditors are likely to deal with the one who has deep pockets or is able to pay for sure, as they cannot receive additional amounts from other partners.

Several Liable

Several liable (or proportionate liability) is when all sides are responsible for just their own given obligations. It means that each and every partner satisfies separate contract divisions. In fact, it is the opposite of several and joint liability. As an example there is a situation where several business partners got some loan for their enterprise under the agreement that each side was obliged to repay for their own share (severally liable). In this kind of situation, if one borrower did not comply with their loan obligation, then the creditor would only be able to file a lawsuit against this individual for failure to meet their obligation. Parties, who conduct syndicated loan agreements, often take several liability.

Jointly and severally liable

When parties have several and joint liability, a сreditor can file a lawsuit against any of the parties to get required repayment. It is a type of joint liability. If one side pays the debt, then that side may appeal to others to collect their obliged part of the debt. In general, it is the responsibility of indictees to figure out and agree on their individual parts of charges and liability.