BK and Divorce

[jorfer99]

Me and the wife are not having a great time right now, finances and other issues.

We were planning on filing Chap. 13 together, but because of recent events we might be separating.

Together or separate we have to file, I would have to file 13 because of back taxes.

Question is, there are 2 loans (unsecured) that we both are in together. If we divorce, should I have her file Bk Chap. 7 first, and then I file Chap. 13 so they dont go after her for that loan money?

[Buzzbolt]

I would recommend that you get the divorce out of the way first. That's how I did it. Get a court document that declares which debt belongs to whom and then go BK on whatever is your responsibility, if necessary.

The case in which I would recommend the BK first is if she is getting some unrealistic spousal support, property settlement figures from her attorney. If she is being unrealistic because of her divorce attorney's advice, then get the available assets/liabilities under the control of the BK and let the divorce attorney try to fight over what is left.

In a divorce, the attorneys sum up how much money is available to them in their clients assets, divide by billing hours and work up until it's gone.

Hopefully there are no kids involved. Good luck.

[filingin08]

Interesting... our BK atty suggests BK first, then divorce because there is nothing to separate... of course if one if 7 and one is 13, don't know how that would work...

[Ortgeist]

divorce after filing

In Missouri, you have to submit paperwork to the trustee to get a lift of automatic stay to get divorced after filing a chapter 13. I'm not sure is this is the case in your state. My divorce attorney is handling that paperwork. In order for me to keep the car, we decided it would be cheapest and the best scenario for me to continue with the ch 13. I pay 75% of the bk and my soon to be ex pays 25%. The reason why we did that is because the bk payment is mostly for my car. Since we did accrue debt, though, while married he is still responsible for some of that. So we decided the 75-25 split was fair.

Hope that helps any.
Carrie