Marital debt question

What is the name of your state? FL

My husband recently got a letter from a creditor in IL for bills that his ex-wife did not pay. They were not living together at the time but the divorce had not been finalized.

They lived in VA, she left with kids and moved back to home state of IL in 12/97 filed for divorce but never followed up so the case was dismeissed for want of prosecution 12/99. They never reconciled and he remained in VA(military) throughout this time-frame. She re-filed for divorce in 3/00. We only recently received a letter addressed to him and his ex-wife concerning the debt.

It's a total of around $1000 including electricity, phone, and medical. One went to collection the same month that she petitioned for divorce(3/00) and the others within a few months after. (5/00 and 7/00) She moved to MO in 5/00. Divorce finalized 8/30/00.

Is he jointly responsible for all of the debts or can he dispute them? They are all being pursued by the same collection agency. What documentation should we request for validation? Will he be able to sue his ex-wife for half of the debt if he is held responsible?

Sorry if this is rambling, not sure exactly how to handle the situation. Has become very stressful since my husband holds a security clearance we are worried that this could effect his job as well.

[Ladynred]

How old are the debts ??? When were the last payments ? 1997 or 2000 ?

The SOL on debts in VA is 3 years for open-ended contracts (basically credit cards), and 5 years for written contracts. I'm guessing that phone and elect would be considered written contracts, though I'm not 100% sure, and the medical probably is too. If its been 5 years (month/year) since any payments were made, then no one is liable for the debts as they have expired. If these went unpaid in 2000, then it depends on whether or not his name was on these accounts in any way. If they can't find her, they WILL come after him for repayment.

For validation, all you have to do is send a validation demand letter, and they are supposed to provide proof that he is liable for the debts.. something with HIS signature on a contract would be considered proper validation.

If he ends up having to pay the debts, he could sue her in small claims court, no lawyers needed, and get a judgment against her, but then he would have to have some way to enforce the judgment and collect the money.. such as garnishment or liens on bank accounts, etc.

Thank you. I'll have to get those validation requests going.

We think that the debts are from sometime in '99? She has been taken to court by that same collection agency before and they garnished her pay. That was around the end of '98 and satisfied sometime in '99(found the court records online ). So these must have gone unpaid while her check was being garnished.....

Don't quite understand why there are so many medical bills though....she and the kids were military dependents through '99 and were covered by husband's insurance through employer until their divorce was finalized, now he still has full coverage on the children.

I'll pass the word to him.