Legal options to uphold debt repayment plan

[MovingOnAndUp]

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

Hello, looking for some input on a post divorce debt issue. I have been divorced for about a year from my wonderful cheating ex wife and everything is fantastic other than one financial issue. When I caught my ex she was so remorseful that I was able to get her to sign a debt repayment letter that I drafted up, even though the debts were not marital. The signatures were notarized and added to our divorce decree and the judge signed off on the decree. The debt repayment plan was referenced in the divorce/separation agreement and attached. We had debts related to many different things and were in the middle of doing a debt settlement at the time of our split. The letter stated that I am entitled to her federal and state tax returns each year until the debt was repaid. It also stated that starting this month she was to begin making monthly payments of $100 for 12 months followed by monthly payments of $200 until the combined tax return refunds and monthly payments satisfy her portion of the debts. I have been making payments directly to the creditors and collection agencies and the money she owes would satisfy her portion of the debts. She surrendered her 2013 tax documents in February and I did her taxes and had her return deposited into my bank account. Fast forward to this current month, she hasn't worked in 12 months and is claiming she has no money to start paying the monthly debt payments yet, but will when she starts working. Our friendly relationship has degraded lately and she is now playing the passive aggressive game and not responding to emails, etc. Word is that she just found a part time job and is starting this week or next. My plan is to give it a month or two and see if she does the right thing now that she will be working.

So, basically, my question is......if she decides she doesn't want to pay me, what is my legal recourse?

How would I go about taking her to court and having the judge uphold the agreement?

If I have to take her to court is this a situation where I would have to hire a lawyer and spend a ton of money to hope the agreement is upheld or is it something where we would just show up and the judge will interpret the agreement and make a ruling?

Can her wages be garnished to get this money back?

Fyi, I would like to get this money back, but if I can not it isn't the end of the world. It's the principle more than the money, because I don't want her to get off the hook. Getting the money back would be VERY helpful to me though, but probably not worth it if I have to pay a lawyer a ton of money to get it.

Her portion of the debt is $20,000

Thanks so much for reading

Edit**************..The reason I attempted to get back her portion of the debt in this manner was because the debt wasn't actually marital. We ran up the credit cards while living together and entered the debt settlement program before we were married. The debt settlement letter refers to the debt as marital. The divorce was written up with the help of legal zoom because there was no disagreement over anything divorce related. The marriage was only about 4 months, but the relationship was 4 years. I knew being the debt wasn't marital that I was not entitled to her paying me back legally. The cards were all in my name so I drafted up the agreement and hoped for the best. I give her a 50/50 chance of paying me back without going into the legal system.

 

[Silverplum]

You would file a motion for contempt. You can learn how to do it yourself by studying online. Start with your county court website.

 

[MovingOnAndUp]

You would file a motion for contempt. You can learn how to do it yourself by studying online. Start with your county court website.

I will look into that. Thanks!

 

[MovingOnAndUp]

You would file a motion for contempt. You can learn how to do it yourself by studying online. Start with your county court website.

Just a quick question, because I can't look into it until tomorrow.
Would doing this result in many hours of lawyer fees? Or is it the type of thing where we both show up and the judge just rules on what was already signed?

thanks

 

[Ladyback1]

Just a quick question, because I can't look into it until tomorrow.
Would doing this result in many hours of lawyer fees? Or is it the type of thing where we both show up and the judge just rules on what was already signed?

thanks

You CAN do it yourself.

I filed a motion for contempt against Ex for not paying medical expenses for our 2 children (1/2 of the total as stipulated in the divorce decree and parenting plan). I had gathered all of my evidence, and had all my "duckies" in a row...I won, but the only thing I got out of it was a judgment for the amt. owed. STILL haven't seen the money and it's been almost a year!

I ended up shipping the debt off to a collection company. When they get paid, I'll get paid. I just didn't want to waste anymore time and/or energy on trying to get blood from a turnip!

 

[latigo]

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

Hello, looking for some input on a post divorce debt issue. I have been divorced for about a year from my wonderful cheating ex wife and everything is fantastic other than one financial issue. When I caught my ex she was so remorseful that I was able to get her to sign a debt repayment letter that I drafted up, even though the debts were not marital. The signatures were notarized and added to our divorce decree and the judge signed off on the decree. The debt repayment plan was referenced in the divorce/separation agreement and attached. We had debts related to many different things and were in the middle of doing a debt settlement at the time of our split. The letter stated that I am entitled to her federal and state tax returns each year until the debt was repaid. It also stated that starting this month she was to begin making monthly payments of $100 for 12 months followed by monthly payments of $200 until the combined tax return refunds and monthly payments satisfy her portion of the debts. I have been making payments directly to the creditors and collection agencies and the money she owes would satisfy her portion of the debts. She surrendered her 2013 tax documents in February and I did her taxes and had her return deposited into my bank account. Fast forward to this current month, she hasn't worked in 12 months and is claiming she has no money to start paying the monthly debt payments yet, but will when she starts working. Our friendly relationship has degraded lately and she is now playing the passive aggressive game and not responding to emails, etc. Word is that she just found a part time job and is starting this week or next. My plan is to give it a month or two and see if she does the right thing now that she will be working.

So, basically, my question is......if she decides she doesn't want to pay me, what is my legal recourse?

How would I go about taking her to court and having the judge uphold the agreement?

If I have to take her to court is this a situation where I would have to hire a lawyer and spend a ton of money to hope the agreement is upheld or is it something where we would just show up and the judge will interpret the agreement and make a ruling?

Can her wages be garnished to get this money back?

Fyi, I would like to get this money back, but if I can not it isn't the end of the world. It's the principle more than the money, because I don't want her to get off the hook. Getting the money back would be VERY helpful to me though, but probably not worth it if I have to pay a lawyer a ton of money to get it.

Her portion of the debt is $20,000

Thanks so much for reading

Edit**************..The reason I attempted to get back her portion of the debt in this manner was because the debt wasn't actually marital. We ran up the credit cards while living together and entered the debt settlement program before we were married. The debt settlement letter refers to the debt as marital. The divorce was written up with the help of legal zoom because there was no disagreement over anything divorce related. The marriage was only about 4 months, but the relationship was 4 years. I knew being the debt wasn't marital that I was not entitled to her paying me back legally. The cards were all in my name so I drafted up the agreement and hoped for the best. I give her a 50/50 chance of paying me back without going into the legal system.

I don't believe this conjured up bogus "debt repayment plan" was ever incorporated into the divorce decree. Instead, it exists as separate document independent of the decree.

First you state that it was only "referenced" in the "divorce/separation agreement".

Secondly you are asking if the court will now "interpret" and "uphold" it. Questions wholly inconsistent with it being previously approved and incorporated into the decree.

Thirdly, it is doubtful that a conscientious family court judge would approve it. Not without receiving evidence that it represented an equitable apportioning of marital/joint debts documented and submitted to the court. Which, if you had attempted to do would be committing fraud upon the court, if not felony perjury!

Plus, evidence that she had the opportunity to obtain the counseling of her own attorney before signing the patently unconscionable, shove it down her throat agreement.

Nor could the agreement be properly considered by the court as an equitable apportionment of marital/joint debts. For the simple reason that the agreement obligates her to pay you and not to assume documented debts allegedly jointly owed to named creditors. And in no way would the court order her to reimburse you the $20K had you in fact paid jointly owed creditors.

Furthermore without proof that the $20K represented her equitable share of jointly owed creditors, there would be no consideration supporting her agreement.

SO, assuming that my guess is correct and that this fabricated "debt repayment plan" that you admit to being totally counterfeit was never presented to and approved by the divorce court and thus incorporated into the decree, then you have no legal recourse available to you in that same court.

And if so - and I surely hope that it is so - good luck in trying to get a civil court to uphold and enforce it without you committing further acts of perjury and fraud upon the court.

 

[MovingOnAndUp]

I don't believe this conjured up bogus "debt repayment plan" was ever incorporated into the divorce decree. Instead, it exists as separate document independent of the decree.

First you state that it was only "referenced" in the "divorce/separation agreement".

When I say referenced, I mean there was a paragraph in the decree stating the amount of debt owed by each of us and that it would be handled based on the attached debt settlement plan.

Secondly you are asking if the court will now "interpret" and "uphold" it. Questions wholly inconsistent with it being previously approved and incorporated into the decree.

Please don't read too much into my word choice. I do not have a great deal of knowledge in this arena. I mean to have the court force her to comply to what she signed.

Thirdly, it is doubtful that a conscientious family court judge would approve it. Not without receiving evidence that it represented an equitable apportioning of marital/joint debts documented and submitted to the court. Which, if you had attempted to do would be committing fraud upon the court, if not felony perjury!

What exactly is fraudulent about what we did? I'm not following.

Plus, evidence that she had the opportunity to obtain the counseling of her own attorney before signing the patently unconscionable, shove it down her throat agreement.

You are coming off as very angry. Did I say something to annoy you? She was the cause of the marriage to end and at the time she did the right thing and agreed to make these payments back instead of leaving me to have to make them on my own. This is of course independent of how she is now treating it a year later. She moved on with her life and no longer feels it necessary to do the right thing as I continue to make these payments.

SO, assuming that my guess is correct and that this fabricated "debt repayment plan" that you admit to being totally counterfeit was never presented to and approved by the divorce court and thus incorporated into the decree, then you have no legal recourse available to you in that same court.

fabricated and counterfeit? You're making it seem like I did something bad here. I get that this should have been handled differently, but there was no bad intentions. Quite the contrary actually. I wanted to draft something up that would allow her to pay back the debts in a way she could handle based on her situation.

And if so - and I surely hope that it is so - good luck in trying to get a civil court to uphold and enforce it without you committing further acts of perjury and fraud upon the court.

Again, did I do something to offend you?

 

[stealth2]

I'm really not understanding how her agreeing to pay your debts (under threat by you) was "doing the right thing"... Certainly your demand wasn't the "right thing". Her cheating wasn't the right thing for sure, but neither was your insisting she pay your debts. That was just as sleazy.

 

[MovingOnAndUp]

I'm really not understanding how her agreeing to pay your debts (under threat by you) was "doing the right thing"... Certainly your demand wasn't the "right thing". Her cheating wasn't the right thing for sure, but neither was your insisting she pay your debts. That was just as sleazy.

You just blew my mind. The debts were legally in my name, but they were our debts. Most of them were money spent for her. Half of it was spent on her lawyer for a custody situation with her child's father and the most of the rest was for money I helped her out with a cosmetic surgery.

Since you are looking to judge me, I will offer further info that wasn't relevant to the legality of my question. When she was caught cheating I said how could you do that to me? I was there for you in every way, etc. During the conversation I said what about all the debt we are paying down. She said she would pay me back and she said I'll sign whatever you need me to sign, etc.

You speak like I put a gun to her head and forced her to pay my credit cards off in her moment of weakness.

Is this not a legal help forum?

 

[Proserpina]

You just blew my mind. The debts were legally in my name, but they were our debts. Most of them were money spent for her. Half of it was spent on her lawyer for a custody situation with her child's father and the most of the rest was for money I helped her out with a cosmetic surgery.

Since you are looking to judge me, I will offer further info that wasn't relevant to the legality of my question. When she was caught cheating I said how could you do that to me? I was there for you in every way, etc. During the conversation I said what about all the debt we are paying down. She said she would pay me back and she said I'll sign whatever you need me to sign, etc.

You speak like I put a gun to her head and forced her to pay my credit cards off in her moment of weakness.

Is this not a legal help forum?

What you're being told is that without her voluntarily paying, you're going to have a very, very hard time trying to enforce it; it IS more or less holding a gun to her head.

Re-read latigo's post.

Really.

 

[stealth2]

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

Hello, looking for some input on a post divorce debt issue. I have been divorced for about a year from my wonderful cheating ex wife and everything is fantastic other than one financial issue. When I caught my ex she was so remorseful that I was able to get her to sign a debt repayment letter that I drafted up, even though the debts were not marital. The signatures were notarized and added to our divorce decree and the judge signed off on the decree. The debt repayment plan was referenced in the divorce/separation agreement and attached. We had debts related to many different things and were in the middle of doing a debt settlement at the time of our split. The letter stated that I am entitled to her federal and state tax returns each year until the debt was repaid. It also stated that starting this month she was to begin making monthly payments of $100 for 12 months followed by monthly payments of $200 until the combined tax return refunds and monthly payments satisfy her portion of the debts. I have been making payments directly to the creditors and collection agencies and the money she owes would satisfy her portion of the debts. She surrendered her 2013 tax documents in February and I did her taxes and had her return deposited into my bank account. Fast forward to this current month, she hasn't worked in 12 months and is claiming she has no money to start paying the monthly debt payments yet, but will when she starts working. Our friendly relationship has degraded lately and she is now playing the passive aggressive game and not responding to emails, etc. Word is that she just found a part time job and is starting this week or next. My plan is to give it a month or two and see if she does the right thing now that she will be working.

So, basically, my question is......if she decides she doesn't want to pay me, what is my legal recourse?

How would I go about taking her to court and having the judge uphold the agreement?

If I have to take her to court is this a situation where I would have to hire a lawyer and spend a ton of money to hope the agreement is upheld or is it something where we would just show up and the judge will interpret the agreement and make a ruling?

Can her wages be garnished to get this money back?

Fyi, I would like to get this money back, but if I can not it isn't the end of the world. It's the principle more than the money, because I don't want her to get off the hook. Getting the money back would be VERY helpful to me though, but probably not worth it if I have to pay a lawyer a ton of money to get it.

Her portion of the debt is $20,000

Thanks so much for reading

Edit**************..The reason I attempted to get back her portion of the debt in this manner was because the debt wasn't actually marital. We ran up the credit cards while living together and entered the debt settlement program before we were married. The debt settlement letter refers to the debt as marital. The divorce was written up with the help of legal zoom because there was no disagreement over anything divorce related. The marriage was only about 4 months, but the relationship was 4 years. I knew being the debt wasn't marital that I was not entitled to her paying me back legally. The cards were all in my name so I drafted up the agreement and hoped for the best. I give her a 50/50 chance of paying me back without going into the legal system.

You just blew my mind. The debts were legally in my name, but they were our debts. Most of them were money spent for her. Half of it was spent on her lawyer for a custody situation with her child's father and the most of the rest was for money I helped her out with a cosmetic surgery.

Since you are looking to judge me, I will offer further info that wasn't relevant to the legality of my question. When she was caught cheating I said how could you do that to me? I was there for you in every way, etc. During the conversation I said what about all the debt we are paying down. She said she would pay me back and she said I'll sign whatever you need me to sign, etc.

You speak like I put a gun to her head and forced her to pay my credit cards off in her moment of weakness.

Is this not a legal help forum?

Just going by what YOU posted, Schmoo.

 

[Ohiogal]

You just blew my mind. The debts were legally in my name, but they were our debts. Most of them were money spent for her. Half of it was spent on her lawyer for a custody situation with her child's father and the most of the rest was for money I helped her out with a cosmetic surgery.

Since you are looking to judge me, I will offer further info that wasn't relevant to the legality of my question. When she was caught cheating I said how could you do that to me? I was there for you in every way, etc. During the conversation I said what about all the debt we are paying down. She said she would pay me back and she said I'll sign whatever you need me to sign, etc.

You speak like I put a gun to her head and forced her to pay my credit cards off in her moment of weakness.

Is this not a legal help forum?

And yet on the other forum, you said much of the debts WERE PREMARITAL. They weren't hers at all. Change your story much?

 

[MovingOnAndUp]

And yet on the other forum, you said much of the debts WERE PREMARITAL. They weren't hers at all. Change your story much?

They were premarital. We lived together before we were married and it was debts we ran up together. Why are you calling me a liar. I came here for some legal advice and my character is getting called into question. We were a family before we made it legal. Premarital simply means before our legal wedding. I never said the debts were run up on my own before I met her and then I made her pay for them. Who would do something like that???

 

[MovingOnAndUp]

Just going by what YOU posted, Schmoo.

Are you a child with the name calling? When did I say that? Just because I said premarital doesn't mean they were my debts before I met her. We were together for four years and married for about 4 months. Legally married for 6 months because we had to wait out the 6 month period for no fault divorce. I am fully aware she didn't have a legal obligation to pay these debts, but I felt she had a moral one.

I was pointed to this forum because in the fathers forum somebody suggested I would get some help here. Why are you bashing me?

 

[MovingOnAndUp]

What you're being told is that without her voluntarily paying, you're going to have a very, very hard time trying to enforce it; it IS more or less holding a gun to her head.

Re-read latigo's post.

Really.

I understand that it will be difficult for the agreement to hold up in court and that I just have to hope she does the good moral thing and pays her portion. I don't see how asking her to pay back her debts is holding a gun to her head. She screwed me over, I said how could you do that to me after everything I did for you and she said she would pay her share. Just because someone doesn't have a legal obligation doesn't mean they can't do the right thing anyway.