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bankruptcy

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

Can a married person declare bankruptcy in just their name with debt that is only in their name and have it not affect their spouses credit?
 


Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? nj

Can a married person declare bankruptcy in just their name with debt that is only in their name and have it not affect their spouses credit?
Not quite. A married person may file bankruptcy, but when a person does that all the debts he or she owes are included in the bankruptcy, including his/her share of any joint obligations with his/her spouse. You don’t get to pick and choose which debts go into the bankruptcy proceeding. The bankruptcy should not be shown the credit record of the spouse who did not file bankruptcy.
 

quincy

Senior Member
A bit of clarification to TM's post:

Although all of your debts must be included in your bankruptcy filing (including those that are not dischargeable like child support), you CAN choose to reaffirm certain debts by continuing to pay on them, even after the bankruptcy is over.

So, in this way - through reaffirming debts - you can pick and choose.

FreeAdvice has a bankruptcy attorney who posts to this forum with some frequency. You might want to check back and look for posts by "despritfreya."
 

latigo

Senior Member
Not quite. A married person may file bankruptcy, but when a person does that all the debts he or she owes are included in the bankruptcy, including his/her share of any joint obligations with his/her spouse. You don’t get to pick and choose which debts go into the bankruptcy proceeding. The bankruptcy should not be shown the credit record of the spouse who did not file bankruptcy.
The petitioner does not need to list debts "she owes" as in "he or she owes". Separate debts of the non-filing spouse are not to be included.

It is a contradiction to state: "his/her share of any joint obligations". The petitioner must list the entire amount of the indebtedness, whether it is separately owed or jointly and severally owed (not some arbitrary proportion or share). Where appropriate the other spouse must be shown as a co-debtor on Schedule H.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
The petitioner does not need to list debts "she owes" as in "he or she owes". Separate debts of the non-filing spouse are not to be included.
You misunderstood my post. The use of “he or she” referred only to the OP, not the OP’s spouse. I was not going to assume the gender of either the OP or the OP’s spouse.

It is a contradiction to state: "his/her share of any joint obligations". The petitioner must list the entire amount of the indebtedness, whether it is separately owed or jointly and severally owed (not some arbitrary proportion or share). Where appropriate the other spouse must be shown as a co-debtor on Schedule H.
The petitioner must list all the debt that the petitioner owes, but it is not always the case in a joint debt that the petitioner is fully liable for the whole debt; that depends on the details of the debt. Hence my use of the word “share”. I did not mean that the petitioner could arbitrarily list some portion of a joint debt and indeed never used the word arbitrarily. I can see where I needed to be more clear on what has to be included, but certainly I nowhere said the petitioner gets to just a pick some random number.
 

quincy

Senior Member
wendynj924, again please wait for the bankruptcy attorney to post. I am afraid there has been some muddling of information and despritfreya should be able to offer the necessary clarification.

Good luck.
 
wendynj924, again please wait for the bankruptcy attorney to post. I am afraid there has been some muddling of information and despritfreya should be able to offer the necessary clarification.
I will try to review the thread this evening. Dealing with some family matters at the moment.

Des.
 
To all,

Thank you for your well wishes. The bulk of the family matters are behind me - the passing of elderly parents - but still dealing with estate matters so my “spare time” is limited.

Wendy,

You initially asked whether or not a married person (in a non-community property state) can file bk listing only that person’s credit cards and whether or not the filing will impact the non-filing spouse’s credit.

I mention “in a non-community property state” because I am in Arizona where, regardless of the name on the credit card, both spouses are fully responsible. In a non community property state, such as New Jersey, I do not believe both spouses are responsible unless both are signers on the account. You will need to verify this with a local attny.

Having said the above and assuming you are not responsible for your husband’s credit cards you should not have to list then in your bk. If you are a signer then I believe the full debt must be included. Again, you need to verify this with a local bk attny.

If your husband is not filing with you and none of his credit cards are listed in your bk (because you are not a signer on the account), your bk should not impact his credit. The problem however is that credit reports, IMHO, are notoriously inaccurate and it would not surprise me if somehow, your bk info ended up connected with your husband. Should that happen, he would have to dispute the information and get it removed.

I wish I could be more thorough but in my neck of the woods this issue almost never comes up.

Des.
 

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