What will happen?

Hi.........quick question.

I'm in the process of filing ch.7 on myself. I'm married, and wife will have nothing to do with filing bankruptcy.

Here's the problem.........she is not on any of my cards except for one. They absolutely REFUSE to remove her from the account. Ok......I was served papers regarding this account owing $7000~ish. I contacted the attorneys office representing this account, and they offered $5184, but must be paid off by August 25. (yeah, right...if I had that kind of money laying around, don't ya think I would be current on my bills??) On the paperwork, it states that if I don't respond, a "default judgement maybe issued against me". What does that mean? Are they going to come after me with an arrest warrant?

I don't want to include this on my bankruptcy and leave my wife stuck with the debt that she can't pay off either. This lawyers office is not really trying to work with me. I call/email and usually get no where quick.

what do I do? I'm trying to sell off some stuff, and find a second job just so that money can go towards this lawsuit. :unsure:

Unfortunately, if she is on the card she will be responsible for the remainder of the debt - there's no real way out of it. If you're working with a lawyer, ask if there is and let us know!

Why are you not filing jointly??? She being stubborn about it???
It will affect her also since her name is on the card...they will come to her for the balance anyways.....
Also it will affect her credit report anyways......

Give us some more info....

Minny

Minny.......she doesn't want to file jointly because she is one of those that believes "you got that far into debt, you can work 2-3 jobs to get out of it. Bankruptcy is taking the easy way out". Personally.........I don't want to work 3 jobs for the next 30 years to pay off $50 grand in debt.

As far as the one we're being sued for, that is the only card that has both of our names on it......and has the least amount of debt ($6900). I had planned on getting a second job to pay this one off, and file the others that are in my name only under ch. 7.........but I'm afraid that if I get a second job to pay off this debt, then file ch 7, the court will look at the second job as more disposable income and try to convert to a ch. 13 (which I can't afford) or dismiss/deny all together.

Now, if I file ch 7 on the cards that are in my name only, would that still affect her credit since her name is not on any of those?

First off, you have to list ALL your creditors when you file BK, you are not supposed to pick and chose which creditors to include. So this joint card needs to be included regardless. Does the lawsuit also name your wife, or just you. If it names your wife, guess what, she is being sued too.

However, it really doesn't matter if they named her or not, you are married. Her assets and her income become a factor in YOUR bankruptcy. You have to list her income as a source of income in YOUR bankruptcy.

I hope it works out for you, but I think you AND your wife should meet with a lawyer so that you can both understand what bankruptcy involves and how it will effect both of you, even if you file on your own.

yes, we're both supposed to meet with a bankruptcy attorney that her grandfather used years ago, and see what to do. I'll keep you guys informed.


About our bank accounts, would filing ch 7 drain them? Meaning would the court pull all of our money out of our accounts?

yes, we're both supposed to meet with a bankruptcy attorney that her grandfather used years ago, and see what to do. I'll keep you guys informed.


About our bank accounts, would filing ch 7 drain them? Meaning would the court pull all of our money out of our accounts?

It depends, how much do you have in your bank account, if you have a savings account with several thousand dollars, yeah, the trustee will want to grab that. The idea behind a chapter 7 is that you are insolvent, so if you have cash lieing around, the trustee will want it. So you want to have as little in your bank accounts at the time you file. The catch 22 is that you can get in trouble if you immediatly drain all your accounts right before filing BK.