Married but only I'm filing + newbie ?'s

[Bloodflowers]

I am thinking about future filing, and almost all the CC debt is in my name only. The only debt we hold jointly are our 2 car payments and our rental agreement for our house. Given this situation, will my husband be affected by my filing?

Will they be looking at his individual checking account?

We want to keep our cars and have not missed any payments. I haven't missed any payments for anything- ever. But the minimum payments have become unmanageable.

I'm just not sure what to expect? Given the fact that I want to file individually? Does it matter if I live in a CP state? I don't think we really have any "assets" unless assorted household items count. Will my Home Depot CC come after me for the vacuum and housewares I purchased? I have huge CC debt that accumulated over many many years, and I am not going to be able to dig us out of this hole. My husband takes care of the children and has no paid employment. I am the breadwinner since I'm the one with earning potential, and even though I'm making the most income I ever will have, we are drowning.

Thanks for any guidance!

[lalap123]

Hi,
I recently filed chapter 7 individually (my husband did not file) and am awaiting discharge. I don't live in a community property state, so I can't give you any advice there, but I can give you a quick snapshot of some of the issues/problems I encountered along the way.

The issue that I worried about most was the fact that I am on the deed to our house but not on the mortgage. Even though I was not responsible for the payment our mortgage company still reported something to my husband's credit report to the effect of "property involved in pending bankruptcy case." They have told my attorney that this will be removed from his report after my case is discharged, but we'll see. The other thing I had to consider was that since I'm on the deed then my half of the house was considered my asset. Hypothetically the trustee could have gone after my half of the equity, to the point where he could have taken our house and tried to sell it, and this was a sticking point with my husband when I talked to him about filing. Luckily the trustee didn't see any benefit in taking our home.

I'm not sure about your husband's checking accounts - although I had one account in my name only all of my husband's accounts were held jointly with me, so I had to send copies of all of those statements. I'm sure you know by now that any money you or your husband receive (regardless of whether or not it's an actual paycheck) is calculated in household income.

You sound a lot like me when I decided to file - I had been keeping up with these enormous credit card minimums and just one day thought "I must be crazy to think I can dig myself out of this hole!" Plus, I didn't want my three children to be affected by my poor decision-making for the next 30 years. I researched and waited (paying my attorney) for a little over one year before filing, and I can that although in some ways it's a little depressing to know that I'll have the stigma of BK for the rest of my life, I know now that deep down I had no other choice. Good luck with your decision - you can PM me if you have any other questions.