Bankruptcy

ex-wife has filed chapter 7. listed me as creditor. owes me money(cash) from divorce decree that is not payable until 2006-when children graduate. can this be discharged in pennsylvania court. if not, how do i handle this? also can she claim exemption on house?

[vrzirn]

An ex cannot escape in BK from debts owed to former spouse.

The ex can file the money owed on her bankruptcy if it was included in any sort of court action, and a stay can be granted on the funds. Did you file a claim when you received the bankruptcy paperwork from the trustee, did you attend the creditor's meeting? If you didn't file a claim against your ex with the bankruptcy trustee, then you need to talk to a bankruptcy attorney and have them file the necessary paperwork to have a hearing in front of the bankruptcy judge to ask that the monies owed be paid to you by the bankruptcy trustee. This is true for NC, but you will need to contact a bankruptcy attorney in your state to find our the specific laws there.

Good Luck!

Missed the creditor's meeting, but no one else showed up either. all other creditor's are credit cards, medical, etc. however, she has grossly understated the value of the house which has the lien on it for the settlement money. listed current market value @ 54,400...had appraisal done for divorce proceedings, mv 57,200 & that was at least 10 years ago. can this be held against her? also, she has listed "divorce" as reason for filing bk...when the money she has spent has been after we divorced. she was not left with any marital bills. is this allowed?

the bankruptcy trustee interviewed your xwife during the creditor's meeting, and if she felt that the value of the home was undervalued, then she would have made a suggestion for the value and incorporate that change (this happened in my situation, my trustee actually lowered the value in the home I own because my father has half interest in the house). she also would have had your wife explain why the bankruptcy was due to a divorce, and she would have evaluated your x's answer and made her own conclusion. so everything is on the up and up because the trustee has a handle on everything.

YOu need to contact a bankruptcy attorney immediately to protect your interest.
Good LUck

Please note that your lien is a SECURED debt and may not be discharged in bankruptcy. Your ex must bring a motion to avoid the lien and if she hasn't done that the lien will survive the bankrutpcy and she will not be able to transfer the house until such time as it is paid.

If you are not listed as a secured creditor you should retain a creditor's bankrtupcy attorney ASAP and file an objection to the discharge until such time as a reaffirmation, redemption, or return of all items subject to the lien can be effected.

You must act FAST to preserve your rights.

Good luck,

[email]JASON@LEGISLATOR.COM[/email]

I have seen the initial paperwork filed and this is where my ex has listed divorce as reason for bk and the ridiculous value of the house. she added together the amount she refinanced on the 1st and 2nd mort (there was only 1 when we divorced) and added my debt to that and put that amount as the market value of the house. our area has recently gone through county-wide reassessments & can view info on web, hers was valued over 70k, no appeal. also, i have copies of her budgets from support court where she only owed 2k 2 years after we separated. all this makes it appear this is not on the up & up.
how can she say bk is due to divorce when over half the unsecured accts listed were opened after divorce and all the spending was done after divorce. she is the one who chose not to work until 2 1/2 years ago. i don't know how she got all the credit and a new 1st & 2nd mortgage before she got a job (besides a paper route that she said she made 500/month. ?????????????????

[bigun]

I would suggest you forget about the why's of the bk and go to work protecting your interest. Get a lawyer and make darn sure that lein is seure and WILL survive bankruptcy. The Citi's and MBNA's of the world are big players and can take care of themselves. Life will be a lot less complicated if in 2006 your are the only one with a claim on the house and not a flock of unsecured creditors.

You are right about the whys...just don't understand all of this. am in the process of seeing the bk attorney to object to the discharge.
Thanks to all for the replies and info.
Please continue with replies if any other info available.

We have recently discovered that our previous attorney, who handled the divorce/settlement, may not have filed the note from the settlement as a lien against ex-wife's house. He took the original note and said he filed it, but county says no....spoke with bk attorney and he says this could cost big bucks to fight since no lien. is it difficult to file the objection on our own? please advis. ty

can anyone please give some answers about this pennsylvania bk issue?

[vrzirn]

It appears your only recourse is to fight it. You will also have to consider a mal-practice suit against the attorney for his failure to record the lien.
I have to add that you bear some of the responsibility for this fiasco. You should have followed up and made sure you had copy of the recorded lien. You were served notice of the BK hearing and you missed that as well.

is it possible to file the objection to discharge paperwork without an attorney?

yes, we did miss the creditors mtg, but we did not just blow it off either. things are quite confusing @ my house due to my being disabled and having many medical appts. we had fully intended to go, things just got messed up that week.

also, recently i received an additional notice that she requested that i be listed as an unsecured debtor, but nothing indicating she removed me as a secured debtor.

my question is this, since the decree says the settlement "may be filed as a lien", if it isn't, is this going to be a sticky situation regarding sec/unsec status. The promissory note cannot be collected from her until 2006.