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Originally Posted by stingb What is the name of your state? Illinois
My husband is planning on declaring a bancruptcy. He has no personal assets and the debts were accrued before we got married. He is employed, but hardly makes any money at this point. I, however, do have property to my name (also purchased before we got married) and make decent money. I was wondering if his bancruptcy will affect me or my ability to get credit in the future. I have not changed my last name yet, although I did plan to do it later. Will my last name change matter in this case?
Thanks to anyone who responds. |
I'm also in Ohio and was married just over a year ago. The majority of my debts were pre-marriage debts. I filed Chapter 7 separate from my new spouse this March and just received the discharge today.
What I did to protect my spouse as much as possible was the following. First, on the paperwork, I did have to list in one part his income and bills and my understanding is that it was taken into consideration in determining my qualification for bankruptcy, however since he wasn't filing I didn't have to take into consideration any of his assets (he didn't have any so it was a mute point for us anyway). Since he was basically subsidizing many of my payments, it went well for us.
He had added me as an authorized signature on a couple of his accounts when we married. I had him take me off these accounts prior to filing bankruptcy. The reason for this is that when my ex filed bankruptcy about 3 years ago, he found a credit card after the bankruptcy that he started using. It turned out to be one that was in his name with me as an authorized user. Because of that, the balance on the card and his bankruptcy appeared on my credit report. I only found this out when I was denied credit due to a bankruptcy before having filed.
The other issue was that I had two cars in my name...a beater that was paid off and another vehicle under a loan that I turned into the credit union. I also had a vehicle loan for my husband's car (the title is in his name only) at another credit union where since I was the primary member, I was primary on the joint loan for that vehicle. The trustee would not allow me to reaffirm on the loan, however I worked it out with the credit union that they continued to take the payments out of my paycheck as they had in the past and everything has proceeded normally.
I have a relationship with a third credit union where I've been a member for 17 years. I've had a visa card with them for 15 years. I notified them before the bankruptcy that although there was $1000 on the card of a $1250 credit line that I would continue to pay on the card. They have not cancelled the card. I have continued to pay them. The interest rate has not increased. And, I just tried to use it to see if they had stopped me from using it and they have not. So, it will help me to rebuild my credit rating.
Bottom line, your spouse's filing bankruptcy should not appear on your credit report (you should check to make sure that it doesn't). You will be held responsible for any debts on accounts where you are a joint holder and you may also (don't know this for sure) be tagged for any where you are a signature on the account. If you have co-signed on his vehicle or any other loans, you will also be held accountable for those.
Hope this helps.
07-20-2004, 04:39 PM
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