divorce question

[SquareOne]

We are sick of being in debt and quite frankly it is taking it's toll on our marraige. the ironic thing is that it's our combined income that prevents us from a chapter 7 because of the means test. so staying married means staying in debt ( for now ) do you know of any couples that got divorced for the purpose of qualifying for the means test and then later remarried ? are there any laws concerning that ? thanks, from florida

[drowning123]

Square, how much over are you? How much is your DMI?

[clevelandmom]

SquareOne - I'm sorry I have no answers for you - but I love this!! What a making for a great love story!! I'll keep my eyes on this thread to see what people say. Best of luck!

[tcreegan]

Hi SquareOne,

How would the debts be distributed in the divorce? Asking the divorce judge to give all the debts to him/her might cause "filed in bad faith" to rear its ugly head in the BK...

What about a Ch 13?

Tom in Colo

[NoMoreRed]

Hi SquareOne,

How would the debts be distributed in the divorce? Asking the divorce judge to give all the debts to him/her might cause "filed in bad faith" to rear its ugly head in the BK...

What about a Ch 13?

Tom in Colo

If they are working together to settle a divorce then they can typically go to a mediator. During mediation they would work out how they are going to divide any property, debt and any child custody arrangements if they apply. Once they have it all figured out then they would sign the mediation papers which go to the court to approve. Since by signing the mediation agreement shows they are in complete agreement then the judge doesn't do anything but sign the divorce decree and poof.....you're done.

Of course you would need to see how mediation works in your state. I am posting my experience as it relates to AZ law.

[tcreegan]

Hi NoMoreRed, I was worried about the BK trustee !

Tom in Colo

[enuffznuff]

Yeah, I'd have the same concern as Tom.
If you could divide the debt proportionally between you and then you'd each qualify individually, then it might work. But I think assigning all the debt to one party then having that one party file BK would be pretty messy.
Not to mention, you can't force a creditor to go along with a divorce decree, so for example, if you have a joint credit card and assign the debt to your ex...that doesn't absolve you from responsibility for it from the creditor, so his bankrupting it would only serve to put it on you.
If all the debt is in only one person's name, then it might work, but if someone got nosy, you might run into trouble if you're still living together, still on each other's health insurance policies, etc. The last thing you want is the whole thing (BK) dismissed for fraud.

I think this could get very, very messy.

[dbr]

So what if your already in a ch 13, can you divide the debt and both file to amend with all new expenses and income? How in the he** do you do this while paying a ch 13. Payments do not allow for new attornys fees? Is the mediator free? Probably not.