Community State - Joint Filing but Weird

[mhman]

I am living in California and planning to file Chapter 7 in this year. (Yes, the Community State!)

After I met several attorneys, I found an experienced attorney to retain.

But this attorney recommends me to file Chapter 7 just myself even though I am in the Community State.

All debts are just belonging to me. My wife got the social security number couple of years ago so all debts were mine. We married 11 years ago though.

I put her name in two credit cards as an authorized user but I removed off her name from the cards later.

The Attorney said that I need to save my wife's good credit for the future. He has never seen any lawsuits to the spouse after the discharge even in the Community State.

It's a concern though. What if creditros come after my wife several years later for my debts? We would lose in the lawsuits and bring up all old debts again.......nightmares....

Is my attorney gambling with our future? Should we both file together? Any experience?

[danaf]

I don't think the attorney is giving you bad advice if your wife has no separate property or will not inherit anything huge in the future that would be considered her separate property.

I filed solo in a com. prop. state too. My husband didn't want to file and the debt was mostly mine from prior to marriage. And we had only been married a short time before I filed (a little more than a yr).

When just one files, everything that is community property going forward the creditors cannot attack....this includes salaries, real estate ect. But separate property is another story.

So yes, your attorney is right. And if after you file, you guys need some sort of credit, just your wife can apply and it can be helpful.

BUT - in terms of buying real estate together, you can forget about that. You both will need to wait a min. of two years post bk before the possibility of consideration.

[jribe]

in light of the current recession and credit crunch - it doesn't matter if your wife files or not. If she's only had a SS# for a couple of years and was only recently added as a user on 2 cards- she won't qualify for any credit in this market. Lender's want to see a minimum of 3-5 revolving credit lines, 2 installment loans etc before they will grant any significant type of credit. Also - her income would matter too. If she doesn't work; again i wouldn't bother with her not filing. Might as well both file and be done with it for sure.

I don't think your attorney really understands how horrible things are right now in regards to credit and the difficulty to get it. People with 700 ficos are getting turned down for the smallest things...

I am living in California and planning to file Chapter 7 in this year. (Yes, the Community State!)

After I met several attorneys, I found an experienced attorney to retain.

But this attorney recommends me to file Chapter 7 just myself even though I am in the Community State.

All debts are just belonging to me. My wife got the social security number couple of years ago so all debts were mine. We married 11 years ago though.

I put her name in two credit cards as an authorized user but I removed off her name from the cards later.

The Attorney said that I need to save my wife's good credit for the future. He has never seen any lawsuits to the spouse after the discharge even in the Community State.

It's a concern though. What if creditros come after my wife several years later for my debts? We would lose in the lawsuits and bring up all old debts again.......nightmares....

Is my attorney gambling with our future? Should we both file together? Any experience?

[mhman]

Thanks for your opinions.

My wife doesn't work and would not able to work in the future. She doens't have any separate assets.

However, all the debts were accumuated during our marriage. By adding her to my cc as an authorized user, she could build up credit well and has some department store cards as well as visa cards. Her credit score is over 750 now. I really want to keep her credit.

The worst scenario is that some creditors would come after and sue her for my discharged debts since we are in the community state. (because most of debts were made during marriage). In this case, the creditors can garnish my incomes even though they just sued my wife? It's very confusing.... Even though she never signed on any debts, is it really possible that she is responsible on the discharged debts?

[jribe]

she would still be responsible for the debt in a community property state. I know many people that working in Banking and Mortgage and if that is all the credit she has and SHE has no income- it's pointless to "save her credit". Her "750 fico" is basically useless for anything important - mortgage etc. No one will lend to someone with no income- and yours will not be able to be included unless you're on the loan. And if you're on the loan- it's at least a 2 year wait (probably longer because of what i stated earlier in regards to her credit).

Cars would be the same situation - if she doesn't have income- it won't matter. She'd need a cosigner - and if it's you- the interest rate will be the same as what you would get yourself.

There's really no point in her not filing. Why are you scared to do this?

Thanks for your opinions.

My wife doesn't work and would not able to work in the future. She doens't have any separate assets.

However, all the debts were accumuated during our marriage. By adding her to my cc as an authorized user, she could build up credit well and has some department store cards as well as visa cards. Her credit score is over 750 now. I really want to keep her credit.

The worst scenario is that some creditors would come after and sue her for my discharged debts since we are in the community state. (because most of debts were made during marriage). In this case, the creditors can garnish my incomes even though they just sued my wife? It's very confusing.... Even though she never signed on any debts, is it really possible that she is responsible on the discharged debts?

[mhman]

jribe, thanks for your opinion and suggestion.

I totally understand what you mean however there are still possibilities that my wife can find a job in the future and it would be easier for her to get a new job without the BK record in her credit report.

That's why I wanted to confirm this communty state issue. Even though her credit is not great and potential, she still keep building up her credit better with the existing credit cards (without BK record). I hope that my attorney's expertise is right for us.

Thanks again.