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Question about "contribution"

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What is the name of your state? Kentucky, litigation is currently in Georgia

First of all, this case has been going on since December 2007 when my Husband's ex filed contempt for failure to pay her CC debt & non-compliance of child support (separate issue). She, at that time, was requesting $30,000. He retained an Attorney, and the battle begun.

Will try to be brief, but thorough************** She is the primary obligor, he was an authorized user (yes, I know if it defaults it will bite them both credit wise) She listed the debt as "paid in full" in the divorce papers in order to push it through (July 2005). She told my Husband that if the debt wasn't listed paid, the Judge would not finalize the divorce (I know that maritial debts need to be settled, not necessarily paid off) She didn't want her live in to discover that she was still married. He was just as anxious to finalize things, so he signed it.

1. Prior to filing contempt, she sent a certified letter stating that he was court ordered to pay it, which was not true. He told her he wasn't going to pay it......so she filed contempt

2. Contempt papers state that he willfully & maliciously lied regarding the status of the account, saying that she thought it was in his name only and paid in full. At that time, she was trying to say that she recently became aware that this debt was in her name & that there was an $18,000 balance. He provided the lawyer documentation proving that she was both aware of the fact that it was her debt & was aware of the balance. The lawyer filed an answer which fired her up a bit.

3. Her lawyer filed an First Amendment to Complaint for Contempt stating that he charged on the card after the separation agreement (which he did) and because of that, he should have to pay it in full (he did charge on it, but also paid that portion off) He provided docuementation to the Attorney proving this.

4. Then her lawyer replied via letters to his attorney that he was responsible for the full debt as he was the one that used multiple courtesy checks & therefore was the reason there was a balance. He requested copies of the signed courtesy checks.

5. Received the courtesy checks, she in fact, signed them not him. But, now her story is that "Yes, she signed them.....but he was the one that benefited from them"

He has been able to disprove every "lie" she has told to date, so now she is offering to settle for back child support and the credit card debt in the amount of 17500. Well, he didn't start paying child support until she filed the papers in December, she had always told him that she didn't want child support (he had adopted & raised one of her children) and he believed her. Now, he's going to have to pay back support of $12000 and that's fine.....but our lawyer is arguing that the CC debt has already been settled via the divorce decree.

He hasn't gotten the filing yet, but his lawyer is saying that she is now suing for "contribution" & that is how she hopes to make him pay 1/2 the debt. His lawyer said that in order to do this, she would have to sue in Kentucky as a separate case. I have tried researching this, but have come up empty handed. I haven't asked the Attorney for details as he costs $200 an hour. Can someone please help me understand the basis for a "contribution" suit, he didn't sign anything on this debt besides what has already been paid off.

Thank youWhat is the name of your state?
 



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