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      Does the guarantor's spouse have to sign the loan documents?

      It is your decision as to whether not to include spousal waiver and consent language in your loan document package. Yes, ultimately this is a business decision that your company will need to make based on its own internal processes for documenting spousal waiver and consents and its independent risk analysis of the transaction.

      GoDocs has identified several states to be a community property state. The GoDocs default is to include spousal waiver and consent language for such states with identified married borrowers and the GoDocs system does allow each lender to make a selection on this issue based on its own internal processes and risk tolerance.

      Below are the states that we currently understand require the spouse of the guarantor to sign the guaranty as a non-signing spouse (meaning not a party to the guaranty, just waiving rights/subjecting interests in property which may be subject to the lender's enforcement of the guaranty):
      1. Alaska
      2. Arizona
      3. Idaho
      4. Louisiana
      5. Nevada
      6. Pennsylvania
      7. New Mexico
      8. Washington
      9. Wisconsin

      For states that do not fall on this list, (known as Spousal Consent or Community Property states) GoDocs believes it to be best practice to have the spouse also sign the guaranty as a non-signing spouse and provide that fail safe for Lenders (and future lenders to rely on). This documentation practice then leaves no potential grey area of the spouse waiving their rights. GoDocs advises customers to reach out to local counsel for legal analysis and opinions on the matter and to understand the risks of not including spousal waiver and consent language in the Loan Documents.

      State by State Breakdown for Individual Guarantor(s)

      State Separate Spousal Waiver Spouse required to sign Guaranty?  
      if Guarantor Address if Guarantor Address
      Alabama  Required Optional
      Alaska  Required Required
      Arizona Required Required
      Arkansas  Required Optional
      California  Required Optional
      Colorado  Required Optional
      Connecticut No No
      Delaware No No
      District of Columbia No No
      Florida  Required Optional
      Georgia No No
      Hawaii No No
      Idaho  Required Required
      Illinois  Required Optional
      Indiana No No
      Iowa  Required Optional
      Kansas  Required Optional
      Kentucky  Required Optional
      Louisiana  Required Required
      Maine No No
      Maryland No No
      Massachusetts  No No
      Michigan  Required Optional
      Minnesota  Required Optional
      Mississippi  Required Optional
      Missouri  Required Optional
      Montana  Required Optional
      Nebraska  Required Optional
      Nevada  Required Required
      New Hampshire  Required Optional
      New Jersey  Required Optional
      New Mexico  Required Required
      NewYork No No
      North Carolina  Required Optional
      North Dakota  Required Optional
      Ohio  Required Optional
      Oklahoma  Required Optional
      Oregon No No
      Pennsylvania  Required Required
      Rhode Island No No
      South Carolina No No
      South Dakota  Required Optional
      Tennessee  Required Optional
      Texas  Required Optional
      Utah No No
      Vermont  Required Optional
      Virginia No No
      Washington  Required Required
      West Virginia  No No
      Wisconsin  Required Required
      Wyoming  Required Optional