Married filed Chapter 13 - Husband not included - discharge of debts question

[Jaded49]

Hi, I am in the Central District California (Los Angeles). I filed for Chapter 13, but my husband did not. I am about to make my 60th payment (and hopefully final payment). After five long, arduous and stressful years, I am now panicking about the possibility that something could go wrong in the discharge process.

Although the majority of our debts were debts for both my husband and I, my attorney advised that my husband not file due to restrictions of his employment terms. During the last 59 months, the stay has been in place and neither my husband or I were contacted by our creditors. Today I began to panic. What if the discharge of debts (we are in a non 100% plan) is only for myself? Will my husband still be liable for the debts that I have been discharged from?

I'd ask my attorney, but they have been terrible to deal with and i'm not sure that they'd give me a straight answer. (They also advised me to NOT turn over my IRS returns despite the plan order for me to do so. This caused the trustee to do a motion to dismiss and I had to scramble to come up withe the funds, PLUS pay the attorney an additional fee to "handle" this.- But that's another sad story. - If only I had found this forum sooner...)

Does anyone have any insight to this?

[LadyInTheRed]

Your community property will be safe as long as you remain married. If your debt was community debt, then a creditor could try to go after your husband's separate property, if he has any. If the debt was in your name only, it is my understanding that it is unlikely for a creditor to bother. Also, if the marriage ends, a credit could also go after whatever assets he leaves the marriage with or acquires after the marriage ends.

[Jaded49]

Thank you you so much for your response! I've been doing some reading and it looks like your answer is en pointe. In CA, we have a community discharge. It will stay unless we divorce.

So so grateful for your response and for this forum. It's a wealth of information! If only I had found it earlier!