Re: Re: bankruptcy and ex wife

Petra! I'm so glad to see you posting on here!

P.

cl_petra1962 wrote:
You should get your Lawyer's advice on this, it is really hard to
say what is best...you should have had to list your Ex-wife as a
Creditor if you filed on any joint debt, regardless of whether you
are now liable for it or not. She should have been notified of your
BK filing and should have been allowed to object to this debt being
discharged.

Here is what I found on nolo.com:

"Q: My ex-husband incurred debt on a line of credit, originally
issued in both of our names, AFTER the divorce was final. He has
since claimed bankruptcy; the collection agency is looking to me to
pay this debt. Am I liable?

A: You learned the hard way about what happens when divorcing
couples fail to close joint accounts. If you have the money and the
gumption, you could file a motion to reopen the bankruptcy if you
didn't get notice of it and ask the court not to let your ex
discharge the debt. Or you might be able to file a motion to reopen
your divorce case and have the court modify your settlement
agreement so you get more money or property to compensate for being
liable for the debt."

Here is some more info about divorce, debt and bankruptcy...

"If a spouse files bankruptcy before, during, or after divorce, the
creditors will seek out the other spouse for payment if the debt was
held jointly - no matter what was agreed to in the separation
agreement/ divorce decree.

"A former spouse may object to the discharge of a debt that a
divorce court has ordered a debtor to pay if the former spouse would
be in financial distress by the discharge. A creditor must bring
these objections within 60 days of the =A7341 hearing."

The creditor spouse doesn't have to prove fraud or dishonesty; he or
she must prove that discharge of the debt creates a greater hardship
on the creditor spouse than excluding the debt from discharge would
create for the debtor spouse.

These non support, marital debts are non dischargeable only if the
creditor/spouse files an adversary proceeding within 60 days of the
first meeting of creditors. (The rule for support debts is
different: they are non dischargeable without action on the part of
the benefited party)."

A spouse who has the benefit of an indemnity agreement in a divorce
decree (a provision that requires the other spouse to pay certain
debts or repay the benefited spouse if the creditor makes that
spouse pay the debt) may be able to prevent the discharge of the
indemnity agreement under 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(15). There are no other
bars to one spouse discharging all liability for non tax/ non
support debt."

I hope this helped...

~Petra~