Only one spouse filing

[Stephen1234]

I am filing Chapter 7, wife is not. My question: I know the Trustee will look at her income and expenses for means test, however, we maintain separate bank accounts, always have. Will my wife have to disclose how much money she has in the bank? My paycheck goes into my account, her paycheck into her account.

Also, what about joint assets? How are they valued? If my wife can produce receipts that only she bought the asset, will that be counted as my asset? I am in Florida.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone who is married where just one spouse filed BK and how it went.

[outsidetool]

I went through a ch 7 where only I filed. We are in Utah; I don't know the particulars of your state, Florida. My wife and I also have seperate checking accounts, and had our own car loans. No joint credit card accounts. Also, "our" house is actually "hers." She bought it based on her income only 3 years ago; i am not at all on the mortgage.
I filed last October, and yes, we had to list all both our incomes, etc. Further, our combined income put "us" way over the median. Fortunately, I had a good attorney. (Three previous ones I'd met with all said that i'd have to file a 13). This whole ordeal did cause some stress in our relationship, but even that worked in our favor in the end.
The trustee did not at all like the "taste" of my case. However, my wife also was a bit behind on several bills, mostly due to trying to help keep my afloat for a year after I'd purchased a truck which I simply could not afford. To make a long story a bit shortened up:
The trustee's office wanted lots of questions answered regarding my wife's various listed expenses. My attorney all but dared them to drag my wife in to court regarding her finances. My wife also turned out writing a letter (yes, at my atty's suggestion), indicating that her money was her money, she had no intent of helping to pay off my debts through a 13, she would not file taxes with me for 2008, and would not subject her tax refund to the trustee for my bills, etc. In the end, the trustee's office backed down and my 7 went through in January 2009.

[SocalBroke]

I think a lot of it is going to depend on what state you live in and if it is a 'community property' state. I filed, my husband did not. Like you, we both have ALWAYS kept our finances seperate. We each maintained our own bank accounts and our own seperate credit cards. The only thing we had both our names on was the car insurance and the lease agreement for our apartment.

Because California is a community property state, we did have to include his income and his expenses. It worked out to be a wash as I would have qualified for chapter 7 either way (our combined expenses were higher than our combined income just as my single expenses were more than my single income.

The good part is he was able to maintain his perfect credit as it had no bearing on him other than having to sign a 'spousal waiver'. As my lawyer pointed out, there is nowhere that his social security number was required so there was no way for it to affect his credit.

[Stephen1234]

Thanks for the responses. Wondering though, did your spouse have to disclose bank account? My wife has about 10k in a bank account and we were wondering if she needs to get that money out of there before I file.

We are in Florida, not a community property state as I understand it. The attorney did say, though, that her income and expenses are counted in means test.

[SocalBroke]

We did need to include copies of his bank statements sorry to say.

[aljohnson007]

If ALL of the debts in your filing are yours alone and your wife is not listed on any account, you should take advantage of Florida's very liberal Tenancy by Entirety (TBE) exemptions (11 U.S.C. 522 (b)(3)(B). I filed in Orlando on 5/28/09 and exempted all of my assets which were jointly held with my wife. If your vehicle(s) are titled as you AND spouse you can exempt but if it says you OR spouse you cannot use TBE. The same goes for bank accounts. Try Google Tenancy by Entirety and you will find some good solid info. Good luck.

[Pizza]

I think a lot of it is going to depend on what state you live in and if it is a 'community property' state. I filed, my husband did not. Like you, we both have ALWAYS kept our finances seperate. We each maintained our own bank accounts and our own seperate credit cards. The only thing we had both our names on was the car insurance and the lease agreement for our apartment.

Because California is a community property state, we did have to include his income and his expenses. It worked out to be a wash as I would have qualified for chapter 7 either way (our combined expenses were higher than our combined income just as my single expenses were more than my single income.

The good part is he was able to maintain his perfect credit as it had no bearing on him other than having to sign a 'spousal waiver'. As my lawyer pointed out, there is nowhere that his social security number was required so there was no way for it to affect his credit.

Texas is also a community property state, so I would be very interested in how this 'spousal waiver' works. We have joint secured property (car lease and home), but all the credit card debt is on my side. My spouse doesn't owe a soul a dime (outside of student loans which can't be discharged), so if there is a way to keep this to myself, I sure need to do so.