Marriage, Bankruptcy

What is the name of your state? Ohio
I am about to marry a girl that has been married before. She divorced a man and he retained possion of the house they had bought durring their marriage and 6 months after their divorce he let the bank forclose on the property. The property was sold at auction for $43,000.00 less then what was owed on the mortgage and now the bank is trying to collect from her since her name was on the mortgage. If we marry can I be held responsible for that debt. She has no other property, and no means to pay this debt, would it be better for her to file bankruptcy and how will this effect my excellant credit.

That is such crap.
Ohio is not a community property state, so under no circumstances could they.
**Edit: They COULD, but you can send them a nice little perfumed letter titled "Cease and Desist"

Your credit will not be affected by a bankruptcy in her name unless you two have signed on joint accounts together. In the case of a joint account that you DO have the means to continue and pay on and you are the primary, you can reaffirm the debt. Her BK lawyer will be able to help you out with the specifics.

Sorry kevinss, but whether Ohio is a community property state or not is irrelevant to the issue of whether a co-signer is liable if the other defaults on a loan.

Actually, if she co-signed the loan and then didn't require him to refinance it during/after the divorce, then she is still on the hook to the creditor.

Why?

The divorce paperwork, which probably stated that husband is responsible for the home debt, is binding on the parties but not the creditor, who wasn't a party to that.

She could potentially file a motion to have the court hold him in contempt for failure to comply with the terms of the decree/settlement agreement, but then if he files a BK himself, that avenue will be closed to her.

[HomeGuru]

[quote]Originally posted by kevinss
[b]That is such crap.
Ohio is not a community property state, so under no circumstances could they.
**Edit: They COULD, but you can send them a nice little perfumed letter titled "Cease and Desist"

Your credit will not be affected by a bankruptcy in her name unless you two have signed on joint accounts together. In the case of a joint account that you DO have the means to continue and pay on and you are the primary, you can reaffirm the debt. Her BK lawyer will be able to help you out with the specifics.

**A: please refrain from posting if you do not have the knowledge to provide accurate and correct responses.