Order to Appear and Show Cause

[filingin08]

Saturday my husband received an order to appear and show cause. His ex-wife has filed a contempt action for him not following the divorce decree and paying his portion of the marital debts.

Our BK atty can't represent him in this case and he/we go to court on July 22. We are on the hunt for an atty who can represent. Specifically she has three complaints - BMW final lease payment, which we never received a copy of until Sunday June 29; boat, which she and new husband said they would take over (if we got it caught up, never did); and Discover, which she claims was opened after the divorce (not so, it just had a zero balance at time of divorce). All things that can be discharged in our 13, but obviously we haven't filed yet. We were waiting a bit to let some purchases fall off the radar.

I don't recall seeing much of this type of conversation on the board, but if anyone has any suggestions/guidance/advice or been-there-done-that with what to expect at the July 22 hearing, I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

[AngelinaCatHub]

He has to appear. If he goes pro se, just tell it like it is. He will probably get ordered or asked when can you pay this if it was in the divorce decree. But when you tell the Judge, you are bk material and intend to file due to whatever, show evidence of your intention. Even these posts, etc. Have you contacted a bk attorney to date? He could vouch for you if you are going into this. Maybe, you may even file now, but in this case, you still will have to appear. It is like Child support or alimony. 'Hub




order to show cause


An order from a judge that directs a party to come to court and convince the judge why she shouldn't grant an action proposed by the other side or by the judge on her own (sua sponte). For example, in a divorce, at the request of one parent a judge might issue an order directing the other parent to appear in court on a particular date and time to show cause why the first parent should not be given sole physical custody of the children. Although it would seem that the person receiving an order to show cause is at a procedural disadvantage--she, after all, is the one who is told to come up with a convincing reason why the judge shouldn't order something--both sides normally have an equal chance to convince the judge to rule in their favor.

[filingin08]

I guess I'm trying to figure out the general timeline.

July 22 - show up, tell judge we're filing bk, show evidence.

Then what?

Assuming judge can't just say "hey, they're filing bk, we'll ignore this order." Guessing something more like "you have 30 days to remedy."

Okay, so we possibly get bk filed by 30 day mark or we don't, then what? Garnishment? Jail? BK wipes it all away? Hate that we waited to file, seems this all would be a nonissue if we filed sooner. Ah well.

The what ifs never end....

Thanks for your insight.

[filingin08]

P.S. Love your tag line. I will get up too!

[AngelinaCatHub]

Ms. ’08: Your bk is a valid argument to this Judges actions. You can’t get blood out of stone. What I am saying is that this is a Court Order and you must go and respond, explain, and even ask the Judge what could you do to remedy this? Actually some of the things you spoke of was, they were to take over the boat, TELL THAT to the Judge. Have they previously attempted to remedy this or did they pull this out in surprise? If that is the case, tell the Judge that they made no good faith effort to contact and compromise to remedy this. There is a lot to say going pro se as you are bk for a reason. NO MONEY! The Court may see this and this Judge may even change your previous agreement under these circumstances. Now the reason you must appear is that this is a Court order. You won’t get jail time for a money debt but Contempt of Court could cause a couple days in the jug. It won’t though if you are straight up with the Court and make good faith attempt. I wish I could help you more on this. Other’s may be able to chime in better. ‘Hub

Thanks about the sig

[lrprn]

Frankly until you have actually filed bankruptcy and have a case number, it doesn't exist in the eyes of the court. You can mention during the hearing that you plan to file, but don't be surprised if the divorce court judge ignores that completely.

Divorce and bankruptcy are often like mixing oil and water, especially in some states where state divorce/property laws can actually conflict with national bankruptcy law.

Has your husband contacted his former divorce lawyer for help? If he hasn't, that's definitely worth a phone call, even if he would have to end up paying for several hours of legal advice.

[filingin08]

Agreed, since we don't have a case number, BK doesn't exist - we could always "intend" to file and never actually do. Figure it can't hurt to mention it. Calling divorce atty soon.

From research today, it seems the court simply wants to know our plans re the debt and how we intend to remedy. We can't pay now or later and garnishment wouldn't be so bad (25% of disposable income in Ohio) until BK paperwork catches up. Just more paper.