Debt incurred during marriage

[deshman]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

A friend of mine was recently contacted by her ex-husband. During their marrieage, they purchased a new vehicle. Since he was military and his credit was better than her's, both the vehicle and loan were in his name only.
While he was out to sea for a deployment, she fell behind on payments, and the vehicle was repossed and sold at auction. The remaining balance for the vehicle was $9000.00.
Since this was purchased during their marriage, is she legally responsible for 1/2 of that loan amount that is still due, even though it was in his name?
The only debts mentioned in their separation/divorce papers was the house that he kept and paid on, and her vehicle that they had previously, that he paid off. She has admitted to paperwork coming to the house regarding the amount owed, and throwing it away. I don't think he even knew about it, until it came up during a security clearance he had to do.

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

A friend of mine was recently contacted by her ex-husband. During their marrieage, they purchased a new vehicle. Since he was military and his credit was better than her's, both the vehicle and loan were in his name only.
While he was out to sea for a deployment, she fell behind on payments, and the vehicle was repossed and sold at auction. The remaining balance for the vehicle was $9000.00.
Since this was purchased during their marriage, is she legally responsible for 1/2 of that loan amount that is still due, even though it was in his name?
The only debts mentioned in their separation/divorce papers was the house that he kept and paid on, and her vehicle that they had previously, that he paid off. She has admitted to paperwork coming to the house regarding the amount owed, and throwing it away. I don't think he even knew about it, until it came up during a security clearance he had to do.

Since she threw the paperwork away she may find a court holding her responsible for the ENTIRE amount.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

A friend of mine was recently contacted by her ex-husband. During their marrieage, they purchased a new vehicle. Since he was military and his credit was better than her's, both the vehicle and loan were in his name only.
While he was out to sea for a deployment, she fell behind on payments, and the vehicle was repossed and sold at auction. The remaining balance for the vehicle was $9000.00.
Since this was purchased during their marriage, is she legally responsible for 1/2 of that loan amount that is still due, even though it was in his name?
The only debts mentioned in their separation/divorce papers was the house that he kept and paid on, and her vehicle that they had previously, that he paid off. She has admitted to paperwork coming to the house regarding the amount owed, and throwing it away. I don't think he even knew about it, until it came up during a security clearance he had to do.

Is their divorce already final? Normally I would say that if the divorce was final and the debt on the car wasn't mentioned in the divorce, that there was nothing he could do.

However, if he didn't know about the debt, because she threw away the bills and notices and therefore was responsible for concealing it from him, it would definitely be grounds to re-open the property settlement.

The creditor will not go after her, but the court very well may force her to take responsibility for half of the debt.

 

[deshman]

The divorce was final back on 2006. Am I correct in thinking, that since it wasn't listed as a liabilitiy on their separation papers, he did not know about it? There were a lot of bills she caused, including their house almost going into foreclosure, that he did know about, and completely paid for. He contacted the bank wher ethe loan was out of, and they have the signature card in the file for when it was delivered with her name signed on it. The date matches up to when he was deployed and not in town.

 

[CrashingGirl]

Thanks for your service

Sorry you returned to such a mess. Isn't there laws forcing banks to put loans and debts on hold for deployed soldiers? Make sure you look into that at some point. Maybe the bank had no right to repo or come close to foreclosure. Maybe you can get your credit report fixed. If you were the only one on the loan then the bank can only come after you for repayment and destroy your credit history regaurdless of a divorce judgement. Your in a pickle there soldier.