Should I divorce before filing? to protect wife?

[jjwalker]

I went to a lawyer yesterday and he scared me with all sorts of scenarios. I really need to file for myself, she has good credit and filed 5yrs ago. He was telling me my creditors can go after her, and sue her. Does this seem right. Also we have a house together, with maybe 40k in equity. How could I get away from the house, if creditors come after me. I have been with her 10 yrs and married for 2, she is cool and will do whatever to keep creditors away from her and our house.
Am I paranoid?
Any kind of response will be much appreciated!!!!!

[USPSA-Shooter]

I went to a lawyer yesterday and he scared me with all sorts of scenarios. I really need to file for myself, she has good credit and filed 5yrs ago. He was telling me my creditors can go after her, and sue her. Does this seem right. Also we have a house together, with maybe 40k in equity. How could I get away from the house, if creditors come after me. I have been with her 10 yrs and married for 2, she is cool and will do whatever to keep creditors away from her and our house.
Am I paranoid?
Any kind of response will be much appreciated!!!!!

See another lawyer or two.

Seriously, get a few more opinions. It can't hurt.

[SinkingFast]

It's really gonna depend on how entertwined your credit is at this point. The extent of damage that can be done to your wife.

Hubby and I have been married over 25 years. We are inseperable as far as Credit goes.

Being as you've been married a relatively short period of time, that may not be the case for you.

If you're an authorized user on any of her accounts, she needs to take you off ASAP. That's one thing that will help. Same thing with bank accounts. Seperate your names on those. You'll need at least 2 to 3 months of statements come with sole names on accounts to be safe.

Do you jointly own the house?? Are you both financially responsible for the loan?? If she's the financially responsible party on the mortgage, your name can be removed from the Deed.

It is possible to be married and only one person file BK. You go so far thru the Means Test together and then her income is removed. Any assets she holds solely and seperately shouldn't be a consideration.

Get some more Consult appointments set up. Chat with more attnys. Make sure you know your ground going in.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

I think the deciding factor on whether or not your wife can be held liable or not for any of your debts, is if you've ever filed a joint tax return. But I'm not 100% sure, so go see another lawyer for a 2nd opinion as previously suggested.

[wilfred04]

there are lot of layer out there, you just need a good reference to find one that fits your case, you can narrow the search by looking on the experience, area of practice and reputation.

[BKOnce]

OMG ..>> 2006 to 2010 (4 years)!

[chicagoannie]

there are lot of layer out there, you just need a good reference to find one that fits your case, you can narrow the search by looking on the experience, area of practice and reputation.

Gee...has "aw" returned so quickly?!

[nceguyfromne]

I am married and filed my BK individually. We did not own a house or have any joint credit accounts but my wife was an authorized user on my highest-limit credit card (~$25K balance) and had, herself, charged at least a couple thousand to it. By the time I got around to filing, the account had already been closed so there was really no way to remove her as an AU. Still, we had no issues at all with them or any other creditor and they never attempted to collect a penny from her. The one contact she had with them was when their attorney somehow tracked down her cell phone number and called her attempting to skip-trace me (she had been added to the account before we were married, with her maiden name). ;) She was even able to get the credit reporting agencies to remove this account from her credit report upon request.

If you have joint accounts, however, this would obviously be different.

[msm859]

I think the deciding factor on whether or not your wife can be held liable or not for any of your debts, is if you've ever filed a joint tax return. But I'm not 100% sure, so go see another lawyer for a 2nd opinion as previously suggested.

Not true. Not even part of the equation.