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Ex husband not paying bills

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prrsilly

Junior Member
I am from Pennsylvania. My divorce was finalized last month. My ex husband is a Nigerian man and has a USA Green Card. I have sole physical custody of our daughter and he has shared legal custody. He has not seen her since last June. We have a property settlement agreement that we both signed. It is part of our divorce. While we were married, I stupidly gave my husband all of my (and my mother's) money in loans and credit cards which were all in my name.

Now there is a HUGE loan for $30,000 and about $10,000 in credit card bills, all of which are in my name. BUT, according to our property settlement agreement, drawn up by my lawyer and signed by my ex and finalized in court, my ex is fully responsible to make all the payments for these bills. However, due to the fact that they are all in my name, (and cannot be changed over to his name unless he applies and gets approved for that amount of credit on his own which is not possible since he has never worked in the USA) it is my credit score that goes down each time there is a late payment.

So, with that background, here is my current dilemma. My ex is threatening to move back to his home country of Nigeria and refuse to pay the bills. I have been in touch with my laywer and she will file a petition and summon him to court (where my ex is responsible for my lawyer's legal fees also). IF MY EX WERE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY, AND SKIP OUT ON THE COURT, WHAT WILL HAPPEN? WILL THE AUTHORITIES BE ABLE TO PUT A HOLD ON HIS PASSPORT AND ARREST HIM AT THE POINT OF EXIT OR REENTRY INTO THE USA? WHAT ABOUT THE BILLS THAT I AM LEFT WITH? IS IT THEN MY OWN RESPONSIBILITY TO PAY THEM? I AM TERRIFIED. I CANNOT AFFORD THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS. PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU!!! ~PRRSILLY~
 


mistoffolees

Senior Member
I am from Pennsylvania. My divorce was finalized last month. My ex husband is a Nigerian man and has a USA Green Card. I have sole physical custody of our daughter and he has shared legal custody. He has not seen her since last June. We have a property settlement agreement that we both signed. It is part of our divorce. While we were married, I stupidly gave my husband all of my (and my mother's) money in loans and credit cards which were all in my name.

Now there is a HUGE loan for $30,000 and about $10,000 in credit card bills, all of which are in my name. BUT, according to our property settlement agreement, drawn up by my lawyer and signed by my ex and finalized in court, my ex is fully responsible to make all the payments for these bills. However, due to the fact that they are all in my name, (and cannot be changed over to his name unless he applies and gets approved for that amount of credit on his own which is not possible since he has never worked in the USA) it is my credit score that goes down each time there is a late payment.

So, with that background, here is my current dilemma. My ex is threatening to move back to his home country of Nigeria and refuse to pay the bills. I have been in touch with my laywer and she will file a petition and summon him to court (where my ex is responsible for my lawyer's legal fees also). IF MY EX WERE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY, AND SKIP OUT ON THE COURT, WHAT WILL HAPPEN? WILL THE AUTHORITIES BE ABLE TO PUT A HOLD ON HIS PASSPORT AND ARREST HIM AT THE POINT OF EXIT OR REENTRY INTO THE USA? WHAT ABOUT THE BILLS THAT I AM LEFT WITH? IS IT THEN MY OWN RESPONSIBILITY TO PAY THEM? I AM TERRIFIED. I CANNOT AFFORD THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS. PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU!!! ~PRRSILLY~
I hope you've put a stop on those accounts. You should have done that right up front - it would only have taken a single letter to the credit card company to stop any future bills from being charged to them. What the heck was your attorney doing?

You are going to have to file for contempt, but only if he is not paying the bills. If he pays the monthly payment on time and then leaves the country the next day, there's probably little, if anything you can do.

If he is already behind on the bills, you can file for contempt and hopefully get a lien on any assets he might have, but it's still going to be hard to keep him from leaving the country.
 

prrsilly

Junior Member
Hi, thank you for replying.

Yes, I did close the accounts, the day that I told my ex that I wanted a divorce, I called all the companies and cancelled the cards. Now it is just all the incurred debt. Will I be responsible to pay the bills if he doesn't pay, even if they can't find him? I can't afford to make the payments. I really don't know what to do. I do have an awesome lawyer, though, who I trust completely. Just wondering about if anyone else had something similar happen too, and how they handled it. Thanks! ~Prrsilly~
 

prrsilly

Junior Member
You are going to have to file for contempt, but only if he is not paying the bills. If he pays the monthly payment on time and then leaves the country the next day, there's probably little, if anything you can do.

If he is already behind on the bills, you can file for contempt and hopefully get a lien on any assets he might have, but it's still going to be hard to keep him from leaving the country.
By the way, yes, he is already behind on the bills. I didn't make that clear in my first posting. He refuses to pay them.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Hi, thank you for replying.

Yes, I did close the accounts, the day that I told my ex that I wanted a divorce, I called all the companies and cancelled the cards. Now it is just all the incurred debt. Will I be responsible to pay the bills if he doesn't pay, even if they can't find him? I can't afford to make the payments. I really don't know what to do. I do have an awesome lawyer, though, who I trust completely. Just wondering about if anyone else had something similar happen too, and how they handled it. Thanks! ~Prrsilly~
The creditors are not a party to your divorce. Therefore they are bound only by the credit card or loan contracts. Therefore whoevers name the debt is in will be held responsible for it, if it is not paid by him.

You may have no choice but to file for bankruptcy if the court cannot force him to pay, or if he runs off to Nigeria.
 

prrsilly

Junior Member
The problem with filing for bankruptsy is that my mother is a cosigner with me for the big loan of $30,000. If I file, my mother's name will still be on the bill and she has put her house up. This is such a mess. At least I have custody of my daughter. That's the good news.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
The problem with filing for bankruptsy is that my mother is a cosigner with me for the big loan of $30,000. If I file, my mother's name will still be on the bill and she has put her house up. This is such a mess. At least I have custody of my daughter. That's the good news.
What the heck did the 30k go for?
 

nextwife

Senior Member
If the bills are in YOUR name, it is YOU who told those lenders you would pay them back. It is you to whom those lenders agreed to extend credit.

It's all fine and dandy that you got your ex to agree to make those payments in your divorce, but that agreement is only between you and ex and does not bind the creditors. They have every right to expect you to pay back what you asked to borrow. The status of your marriage has no legal bearing on their right (and your responsibility). As far as the creditors are concerned: you should be paying those bills, and then collecting it back from ex. The "I took out the loan, but you should be calling this person to get the payment that I agreed to pay when you gave me the money, because we agreed between us that he'd pay" argument is not going to cut it.
 

prrsilly

Junior Member
sponsor?

What about my ex husband's sponsor. I know the sponsor must pay back if the immigrant gets food stamps, etc. What about all this debt? Would my ex husband's sponsor be held responsible? What if I contacted the FBI and reported him as a con-man. My mother did years ago, but I just found out the truth yesterday. She called them and they created a file on him. I was wondering if I could call them and report him also, or if it would just make matters worse. I'm not sleeping. I'm so worried about how I'll ever do this.
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
What about my ex husband's sponsor. I know the sponsor must pay back if the immigrant gets food stamps, etc. What about all this debt? Would my ex husband's sponsor be held responsible? What if I contacted the FBI and reported him as a con-man. My mother did years ago, but I just found out the truth yesterday. She called them and they created a file on him. I was wondering if I could call them and report him also, or if it would just make matters worse. I'm not sleeping. I'm so worried about how I'll ever do this.
I would suggest that you talk with an attorney familiar with immigration matters. You do have to be careful. For example, if he's actually current on the loan and you report him simply based on your fears that he might run, you could be charged with making false accusations. Make sure that you're only reporting things that are factually correct and avoid phrases like 'con man'. But with $40 K and possible bankruptcy at stake, it's worth at least an introductory meeting with an attorney to understand your issues.

You might also post your question about the sponsor's liability on the immigration forum. They would probably be able to answer that better than the divorce attorneys and others here.
 

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