Judgement against me, is spouse protected?

[rogue22]

As expected, I received a judgement against me today from a credit card debt. Now I am a bit curious about how my wife will be affected by this.

backstory:
Wife's name is not on judgement.
I have been unemployed for 3 years now. Zero income coming in from me.
Wife is considered head of household.
We only have one car and it is in wife's name only... plus we're probably upside down in payments right now anyways.
Bank accounts in both names. (no savings, we live pay check to pay check)
Do not own a house, we rent.
We do not own anything expensive. (no boats, jet skis, 4 wheelers, etc)

I assume they will try to go after our bank account, but really its all of my wife's money. I suppose the best option would be for my wife to get a new bank account with just her own name. Could they still go after that since we are married?

Any thing else I should do to try to distance myself from my wife's assets?

We live in Florida by the way.

[TheBajan]

I would think that her getting a new account at a different bank in her name only would be sufficient. She isn't named on the judgement so they can't pursue her for your judgement.

[GoingDown]

I'm going to quote myself here...

That's what I would do. Play chicken with them and see if they flinch first.

They more difficult you make it for them to contact you and get any money from you, the more likely they are to move onto lower hanging fruit-- other debtors who are willing to play their phone game.

Is your state a community property state? If not, they can't come after her stuff.

You would want to make sure that none of your checking accounts (and other assets) are in your name. If they are, then close them and open new ones in her name only.

The less you communicate with them, the better. Any information they get from you will be turned around and used against you later to attempt to get money from you.

In the United States there are ten community property states:
Alaska
Arizona
California
Idaho
Louisiana
Nevada
New Mexico
Texas
Washington
Wisconsin


Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Massach...#ixzz2BlcSPaU4


It looks like she's safe as long as you take steps to keep your assets and her assets separate from each other.

If the debt was incurred before you were married, it is not her debt. It's yours. If you make yourself judgment collection- proof, what can they do? Probably not much but huff and puff and bluff and try to scare you into paying.

The information in here pretty much applies to your situation, just turn it around to suite your situation.

[WanabeFree]

What happens if you live in one of the 10 community property states like California. If they only sue one spouse what steps do they have to take to go after bank accounts and personal property of the non sued spouse. Is it automatic or due they first try to get collect from the one sued and then file for assets of the other ?
My wife is being sued by Barclays for $2400 and I am not named on the suit. We are deciding whether to respond or not. Our home Bank account with Wells Fargo is in both names but is protected because she receives Social Security disability auto deposited. My understanding is 2 mos of SSDI is protected at all times do to new laws. My concern is I also have a my business account at the same bank but she is not named on that account. I asked once at the bank if they could come after me and they said not normally but I don't know if that is true or not. We have played around with the idea of filing BK but just don't feel Bankrupt right now although we do have a 100k 2nd charged of mortgage with HSBC that is nearly 3 yrs since last payment but since the house is under water they cant really do much for now. Other than this 2400 debt my wife also has 2 other CC that are charged off but only about 1 yr from SOL. We have always said if we got sued we would file then but It seems silly to file BK7 and pay an attorney about the same as we are being sued for. It wont fix our second problem and I feel like the other debts are not likely to wake up in the next year. Who knows.


If there is a place that already explains all of this just point me to it.

[rogue22]

Thanks "GoingDown"!

[GoingDown]

What happens if you live in one of the 10 community property states like California. If they only sue one spouse what steps do they have to take to go after bank accounts and personal property of the non sued spouse. Is it automatic or due they first try to get collect from the one sued and then file for assets of the other ?
My wife is being sued by Barclays for $2400 and I am not named on the suit. We are deciding whether to respond or not. Our home Bank account with Wells Fargo is in both names but is protected because she receives Social Security disability auto deposited. My understanding is 2 mos of SSDI is protected at all times do to new laws. My concern is I also have a my business account at the same bank but she is not named on that account. I asked once at the bank if they could come after me and they said not normally but I don't know if that is true or not. We have played around with the idea of filing BK but just don't feel Bankrupt right now although we do have a 100k 2nd charged of mortgage with HSBC that is nearly 3 yrs since last payment but since the house is under water they cant really do much for now. Other than this 2400 debt my wife also has 2 other CC that are charged off but only about 1 yr from SOL. We have always said if we got sued we would file then but It seems silly to file BK7 and pay an attorney about the same as we are being sued for. It wont fix our second problem and I feel like the other debts are not likely to wake up in the next year. Who knows.


If there is a place that already explains all of this just point me to it.

Read this ENTIRE thread for more info...

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?67251-Exempt-funds

If you live in a community property state, they may come after your spouse's assets as well.

In this case, you may want to go see a local attorney for more information.