BK and upcoming divorce

[DivorcingDad]

My divorce is almost final, but I'm concerned about my soon-to-be-ex-wife filing for bankruptcy. She has several credit cards that are in her maiden name which I have never had any kind of charging priviledges on or any kind of supplemental card. During our marriage she used them and racked up about $25,000 of debt. As part of our agreement (which has not been finalized) I agreed to give up some of my equity in our condo (we have about $60,000 in equity) to make up for my half of this debt. My concern is that her attorney told us during this meeting that she might file for bankruptcy. I'm not sure if she's planning on doing it now or after the divorce is final. Can her creditors come after me for this debt?

My attorney didn't know and had a discussion with her attorney about it in the meeting. He did not give a firm yes or no answer, but implied that they could not. My attorney, based only on this, seems to think I'm safe. She's been wrong before, so I feel the need to check this out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[HRx]

Are the credit accounts joint? If they are your credit will be negatively affected by your ex-wife filing BK, and the creditors, may in fact come after you for payment of the debt - some creditors actually don't take actions against the co-debtee.

Do you know if you live in a community state? If you ex-wife files for BK what's the point in paying her the monies to pay down the "married" debt? Be persistent at getting an answer and fair solution to this issue.

I typically suggest divorcing couples to file BK jointly, whenever possible, if doing so works to their mutual favor.

Good Luck!

[DivorcingDad]

Are the credit accounts joint? If they are your credit will be negatively affected by your ex-wife filing BK, and the creditors, may in fact come after you for payment of the debt - some creditors actually don't take actions against the co-debtee.

Do you know if you live in a community state? If you ex-wife files for BK what's the point in paying her the monies to pay down the "married" debt? Be persistent at getting an answer and fair solution to this issue.

I typically suggest divorcing couples to file BK jointly, whenever possible, if doing so works to their mutual favor.

Good Luck!

Ok - to answer your questions:

Credit accounts are not joint, in fact, they were never even switched over to her married name.

The state is Connecticut, I'm not sure if that's a community state or not.

I'm actually not sure if she'll file for BK, she may do a home-equity loan of some kind. However, she's very angry over the debt (she thinks, despite her attorney's advice, that the only fair solution was for me to take all debt from the marriage and for her to have all assets) and it would not surprise me if she filed for BK just to try to make my life difficult if she thought they would come after me.

The whole point in making the deal is to make her life easier because she has custody of our child. I gave up an extra $8000 or so to make it easier. I don't want to give up all of that money, however, if there's a chance that she'll file and the creditors will come after me anyway.

[DivorcingDad]

Ok, here's a quick update. I spoke with my divorce attorney and told her of my reservations concerning the possible settlement and my fears of what could happen if my ex-wife files for bankruptcy after our divorce is final. First, she tried to sound confident that the creditors could not come after me. I told her I'd found information that it sometimes happens, and she became much less confident.

I'm going to have to find a bankruptcy attorney here to get the real answer, because I don't think my attorney really cares about it that much. After all, if it happens after the divorce is final it's no longer her problem.