Can I be held liable for my husband's outstanding debts?

Unless you have a prenup, all income and debts from the marriage are community. So, yes.

All debts during marriage are considered community debts, whether in your name jointly or solely.

Yes you are both liable for the debts.

You are operating under a very huge misunderstanding as to what constitutes community property and separate property debts and assets. You need legal assistance from a family law attorney.

It depends on when he incurred the debts, and it depends on what you mean by being "held liable" for his debts. If you are talking about credit reporting: the creditor can't report a negative entry on your credit report for an account in your spouse's name only. (Creditors get this wrong all the time when a spouse is an authorized user-- be sure there are no accounts reporting on your credit report for which you are an authorized user only.) If you are talking about being sued by a creditor and then garnished or levied to pay the judgment: If his debts pre-dated your marriage, your wages are SUPPOSED to be immune from garnishment to pay any judgments (1) arising from debts that pre-date the marriage and that are (2) in your husband's name only. If your wages are (1) deposited into a bank account in your name only and (2) that account holds your wages only with NO commingling with funds from other sources, then your wages should be exempt from levy once deposited in a bank account. This is how it is SUPPOSED to work. But, the courts are not in the business of reading people's minds. In other words, debt pre-dating the marriage is an exception to the general rule that both spouses are liable for all debts. So, you will need to make sure a judge knows that this exception applies if a judgment creditor starts trying to garnish / levy you. For more information, see Cal. Fam. Code § 911.

I respectfully must disagree with the majority opinion. The general rule is that community property is reachable by creditors to pay debts incurred by either spouse during the marriage. Therefore your husband's debts may be an issue for you, IF THERE IS COMMUNITY PROPERTY. There is not enough information to determine whether income and property "in your name" are separate or community assets. The fact that you have a separate (non-joint) bank account does not determine the type of funds that are in the account. The same applies to other property (houses, cars, stocks, etc.). Until you are divorced, the property may still be COMMUNITY property. Therefore you may want to discuss your circumstances with a family law attorney and a tax advisor (in that order), to determine whether and how you can, going forward, create and maintain as much SEPARATE PROPERTY as possible. That is the best way to protect yourself from your husband's creditors.

It depend on what you mean by legally separated, and outstanding debts. If you have a judgment of legal separation, then the community no longer exist. Any debt acquired after the judgment of Legal Separation is not part of the community since a Legal Separation dissolved the community. If however, debt was divided during that legal separation, the creditor was not a party and no matter who was awarded the debt the creditor may come after both. Then you would have to see indemnification.

I would answer 'possibly' depending, as others have mentioned, on when the debt was incurred, whether the creditor considered your income to grant the credit, and whether you are actually 'legally' separated with a Judgment. If your name isn't on the debt, I would venture 'unlikely' but unless you have a prenup the property (assets & debts) can be considered 'community' even if only in one partner's name