What happens to your credit score when your spouse dies? (Hint: Nothing good.)

One of the worst things that can happen to your credit score, research shows, is the death of your spouse.

The emotional toll of a partner's death is devastating, of course. But once the initial shock of the loss subsides, the financial challenges of living alone cannot be ignored.

When an older American dies, the credit score of a surviving partner takes a hit, and the lower credit can haunt the survivor for up to two years.

The study, from researchers at Ohio State University, underscores the financial turmoil that often follows the death of a spouse.

Some financial fallout from a partner’s death is obvious and well-documented: Loss of income from work, Social Security or pension benefits.

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But survivors face many other financial burdens: keeping up with monthly bills; tracking down account numbers and passwords; gaining access to accounts held in the dead partner’s name; and dealing with the partner’s debts. Those tasks can bog down, leading to missed payments and lower credit scores.

And everything gets much harder, researchers say, when the surviving partner was not the one paying the bills.

Husbands are more likely to pay the household bills

Survivors face that predicament more often than you might think, researchers say. Blame gender roles and longevity tables.

“You’re much more likely to have your male partner die before your female partner, and often the male partner was the one paying the bills,” said Stephanie Moulton, a professor of public policy at Ohio State and co-author of the recent paper.

Moulton and her colleagues set out to study the financial setbacks that followed the deaths of partners over age 50 in the pandemic, which widowed hundreds of thousands of older Americans.

They found that surviving partners saw their credit scores drop by 10 points, on average, on a scale that ranges from 300 to 850 points.

Their findings, published last fall as part of the Social Security Administration’s Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, found a wider audience this month in a blog post from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Even a small drop in credit score can cause headaches

A 10-point drop in a credit score isn’t such a big deal. But many survivors suffer larger drops, and even a small one can cause headaches.

Someone seeking a conventional fixed-rate, 30-year home mortgage, for example, typically needs a credit score of 620. If your score dips to 610 or 600, you might not qualify for the loan.

The study also found surviving partners were more likely to fall behind on bills, triggering late fees and debt collection, all potentially damaging to credit scores.

Several economic factors feed the credit woes of widowed Americans.

One is diminished income, a loss that one 2020 research paper estimated at $5,500 per year for the surviving partner. Another is the stress and anxiety around a partner’s death, which can leave the survivor feeling overwhelmed.

Older adults who lose a partner face a higher poverty rate than those who are still married, according to research from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

'A lot of the bills don't get cut in half'

The death of a partner cuts some expenses dramatically: Think groceries, plane fares and healthcare costs. Other costs stay pretty much the same, including mortgage and car loan payments.

“A lot of the bills don’t get cut in half, and so that pinches your income,” Moulton said.

And then there’s the matter of tracking down all the bills.

American women outlive men by nearly six years. But men pay the bills in most older households, researchers said.

When a husband dies, a female partner may be forced to take over the family finances without any real preparation. If the husband’s name and email address is on every account, the survivor could find it difficult even to access the accounts, let alone pay the bills.

Automatic bill payments, a convenience of the online era, can wreak havoc on a widow, especially when the money is being drawn from an account that belonged to the deceased partner and is losing value.

Widows may find themselves hounded by creditors, sometimes for debts they are not obliged to pay.

“Widows don’t often realize that if there is a credit card that is only in the husband’s name, and there are no assets in the estate, they are not responsible for that debt,” said Jessica Johnston, senior director of the Center for Benefits Access at the National Council on Aging.

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Fortunately, couples can take steps now to prepare for the unexpected death of the family bill-payer.

Here are some expert tips:

Add your spouse to your accounts

A spouse who pays the bills can contact the companies and add a partner to the account, as a joint account holder or authorized user.

And make sure your spouse is named as a beneficiary on investment accounts or insurance policies.

“You would be shocked at the number of people who forget to change beneficiaries, or just don’t put beneficiaries at all, on retirement or investment accounts,” Johnston said.

Make a monthly bill file

Print out monthly statements for every bill, documents that show account numbers, phone numbers, mailing addresses and monthly payments. Put them in a file.

Include “some sort of letter that explains who the various contacts are, and what all the assets are,” said Chester Spatt, a professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University.

That file can also include a power of attorney form for financial matters, said Evan Potash, a wealth management adviser at TIAA, the financial services nonprofit. If you have a will, include that, too.

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Pay the bills together

This may not sound like much of a date night but consider sitting down with your partner and walking them through the monthly routine of bill paying.

“It doesn’t have to be painful,” Moulton said. “It can be a way to establish some independence.”

Meet as a couple with your financial planner

In many couples, one partner handles all the meetings with a financial planner or investment advisor. Consider bringing the other partner along.

“I always encourage my clients to bring their spouse,” Potash said. Together with the advisor, the couple can review the family finances and take steps to make sure either partner is prepared to manage them.