Bankruptcy, then divorce, and then contempt?????

[mountanddo]

Say that the family court ordered him to pay the payments on the car and it was $100 month payment. He also owes 6k in back payments. The divorce decrees is ordering him to pay this. Even if he went back to family court the judge could simply say "ok, well you pay your ex $100 a month and a settlement of 6k" She then turns around and uses that money to pay for the payments on the car. So it doesn't matter really that the car was discharged in BK, he is ordered to pay that amount to his ex.

At least that is how I am reading it.

[helpmeout]

If he did not reaffirm and the car was discharged it is legally not his anymore correct? That now belongs to the lien holder. How can the judge award a car that is not his to his ex. As he keeps pointing out the bk was discharged long before the car was ordered to his ex.

But did he point that out to the family court judge? If he didn't and the wording makes it support, he's SOL. The time to appeal was a long time ago.

[LadyInTheRed]

Are you the same LadynRed who wrote this advise on another board???


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Your divorce decree has absolutely NO bearing on the bankruptcy court and once the debts are discharged, NO ONE can attempt to collect from you for them, not even the EX waving the divorce decree. Hopefully you added the EX as a creditor, if you did not, it would be a good idea to do so.

A state/county family court cannot make you pay a debt the FEDERAL BK court says you are no longer liable for. Your EX will bear the full brunt of those debts if her name was on them.

Nope. Not me. I'm LadyINTHEred, not LadyNred. Her post is not my style. And my name is better.

Maybe the OP could get the order to pay the debt overturned. I don't really know. But, there is nobody on this board whose opinion I trust more than despritfreya's.

The intent of the divorce court was obviously for the ex-wife to get an unencumbered car. Even if the divorce court's order to pay the debt was overturned, I bet it would be replaced with an order to compensate her in some other way. It sounds like the divorce was post-discharge. If so, his obligation to her, whether it is an award of support or a property settlement, was not discharged.

[LadyInTheRed]

But did he point that out to the family court judge? If he didn't and the wording makes it support, he's SOL. The time to appeal was a long time ago.

I don't think he went to the hearing at all. It was out of state and he was out of vacation time.

[btbeme]

Nope. Not me. I'm LadyINTHEred, not LadyNred. Her post is not my style. And my name is better.

I know the forum and have seen her avitar. Your avitar is better, too.

And I second the opinion on Des.

[Phil]

"I also was in the process of divorce and had run out of funds to pay a divorce attorney so I was pro se, and the divorce was taking place in another state, and I had already used all of my vacation time by the time the hearing rolled around in November of 2010."

and herein lies your problem. You seem to have some expectation that the divorce judge knew about your bankruptcy. He didn't. You had no attorney and you did not appear at the divorce hearing. They petitioned for and got a court order for you to have to pay for her to have the car. Nobody was there to advise the judge of anything re your bankruptcy so they got what they asked for. This is a form of support and support is not dischargeable in bankrtupcy.

You could have tried to appeal that decision but appeals typically (in family law) can only be within so many days and you typically only get one shot at the divorce agreement, they are not modifiable once they are made into a court order (only the amount of child support and custody are modifiable after a divorce). You have to pay it or face contempt.

[bcohen]

If you cannot pay the debt and still keep a roof over your head, and food on your table, then don't. Keep documentation of your income and expenses so that when you eventually get hauled into court, you can prove to the judge that your refusal to pay is not contempt--you simply cannot pay and still survive. You will probably be stuck paying this, but the judge may agree to stretch out the payments over a much longer period of time so that you can still have money to live.