filing w/o spouse

[jimbo367]

Not a community state!

She has no obligation on any debts, no joint accounts

[holding on]

That is not true. In a BK your income and assets are part of the BK. After discharge the debt is cleared and they can't go after future income or assets. If your spouse's income and assets are part of your plan ( in a community state they have to be) then they are protected the same as you are, just not as strong of a protection.

Here are the rules that make this not so and lets them go after the spouse per my attorney......

Then it appears to be a community state issue. Because here are quotes from lawyers' sites I looked up with one spouse filings Chapter 13:

"Joint debts
If you and your spouse are jointly liable to a creditor, the bankruptcy of one spouse does not relieve the other of paying the debt. Upon a bankruptcy, the creditor may look to the other spouse for payment, unless the bankruptcy case is under Chapter 13. If the debt is a consumer debt to be paid 100% through the Chapter 13 plan

"Alternatively, one spouse can file Chapter 13 bankruptcy and include all credit card accounts. In Chapter 13, your spouse will have a monthly payment and all debts will be eliminated after the 36- to 60-month payment plan. However, be very careful with this approach, because you need to make sure that all creditors get paid the balance in full. If you try to include your bills, but only pay back a percentage of the debts over the course of the bankruptcy, then you could still be liable for the bills after she completes her Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan. "


"Filing together eliminates the separate debts of you and your spouse and all the jointly-held marital debts. Filing alone leaves the non-bankrupt spouse still liable for his or her share of joint debts, but wipes out the spouse's separate debts and his/her share of the joint debts."

[Bkman2]

Every state has its own rules. I checked with several attorneys in my state and ALL of them said the same thing. With joint debt they can not go after the spouse that didn't file BK. Under a chapter 7 or a chapter 13 all of the income and assets from both spouses are in the BK estate. If the non-filing spouse has assets from before the marriage then they can try and collect.

If your attorney say not in your state then the rules are not the same for your state. I don't trust web sites where attorneys answer questions from anyone and anywhere. You need to talk to several attorneys in the area you live.

[holding on]

That is not true. In a BK your income and assets are part of the BK. After discharge the debt is cleared and they can't go after future income or assets. If your spouse's income and assets are part of your plan ( in a community state they have to be) then they are protected the same as you are, just not as strong of a protection.

What YOU said is not true for others in states not like YOUR'S. You did not caveat it with saying this may be different from the state you are in until posts afterwards. That was the purpose of my listing ideas of lawyers in my area, to counteract your saying what other lawyers told their clients is not true.