Wife owes several $$$. Am I liable?

[Sebin]

What is the name of your state? North Carolina

My wife is disabled by she can't get the state to declare her so, even though she clearly is, she suffers from many illneses and many days she can't really do much. Because of not having Medicaid, she has to rely on going to public hospitals where by law they can't deny her medical attention, but every time she goes she accumulates another $500 to $3000, depending on which studies they did on her. By now she probaby owes close to $100,000, if not more.

I was told that North Carolina is a non communal state (maybe I got the term wrong), so that what belongs to my wife is not automatically mine, and my wife's debts are not mine. With that in mind, I keep separate bank accounts, one joint account and one account that's only in my name, where my paycheck gets deposited, and I only transfer small amounts to the joint account in case she gets sued, which I'm surprised still hasn't happened. She of course receives tons of intimidating letters and calls from collection agencies and the hospital itself.

So my question is, if they sue her, can they take anything of mine in any way? I do have some electronics that took me a lot of time and effort to buy, and I'm afraid one day the police will come with a court order and start taking all my stuff away. I have the receipts in my name for some of it, but some of them are old and my wife threw away an envelope with some receipts a while ago by accident so I don't have all the receipts. I also have a cheap old car, the title is only in my name. Can they get to that in any way?

Thanks,

Sebin

 

[Ladynred]

, if they sue her, can they take anything of mine in any way?

No. As you noted, NC is NOT a community property state.

and I'm afraid one day the police will come with a court order and start taking all my stuff away.

IF you wife got sued and lost, only SHE would be liable to pay that judgment. Your wife could then file the exemptions to prevent them from taking any personal property. They could NOT just drive up with a truck to cart away everything in the house.

I also have a cheap old car, the title is only in my name. Can they get to that in any way?

No.
With 100K in debt, have you considered bankruptcy ?? Unfortunately, if she's going to keep racking up debts, she'll be back in the same situation again some day.

Disability is tough to get, they won't even come close to approving her until she has been officially unable to work due to that disability for 2 full years. If it's been longer than that, then you need to consider talking to someone who knows how to get the disability thru.

 

[Sebin]

Thank you for your reply. She's been disabled for over two years actually, although it's hard to prove because it's not like she had an accident where she lost a limb or something like that. She has a very fragile immunological system that will bring her down for several days at a time, and she cannot keep a job because of that.

Thanks

 

[Ladynred]

Then you really need to work with her doctors to get her classifed as disabled if she is really that fragile and can't possibly stay employed.

If I may ask you another question, or anybody else who may know this, we have future plans of moving to the north east, but I wouldn't want to move to a state where the marriage law is "community property". Can you tell me which of these states have it and which not?

New York
New Jersey
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Maine

NONE of those states are community property states.