Possible BK after marriage for pre-marriage debt?

[HelpMePLZ]

Hi! I'm sure this exact senario has come up a million times on here but I have been unable to find exactly what info I'm looking for so I appologize. Anyway, my fiance was just hit with a couple hundred thousand dollars in hospital bills from the last several years when she thought she was covered on her ex husbands insurance and wasnt.

We are getting married in a month and I'm wondering how this will play out. I'm not on any of the debt and we don't share any credit cards or loans or anything other than the townhouse we rent (has both of our names on the lease). We have not combined bank accounts yet and won't until we figure this whole thing out.

The question is this, if she files for bk after we get married, how will this affect me? Assuming we keep everything seperate. I'm not worried about using my credit without her on future loans such as car loans or home loans. She doesnt make much money anyway. I just don't want this on my credit or have my income considered in her bk.

Another question is what makes more sense when paying bills jointly, to have her write me a check and I pay the bill myself or have her pay some bills and me write her a check? I just wonder about things like rent and things like that and I'd think the IRS would see any deposits in her account as "income". Thank you guys in advance for any info you can provide me on this!

[oregonpilot]

Hi HelpMe...AND welcome.
I was about in the same position. BF and I living together and "thinkin" about getting married. He did not want to be involved "in any way" with my BK. I filed before we got married. We shared 50/50 all living expenses. We also never mingled any money/ checking accts, cc's etc.
So how it came out- my atty used just my income in the means(my income is under 10k and he is on SS) my expenses were half of what monthly total expenses were (plus all my self -employed)business expenses and i was paying rent to him.
How we kept my sweetie out of the mix was i told my atty that i could walk away at any time and all income/expenses would be only mine.
it worked out fine and trustee never questioned it.
We got married after the 341 and before being discharged and closed.

added: what we did and still do is we each put exactly the same amout in a pan...we call it our dough pan (its a bread pan)...and all living expenses come out of the dough pan.

[HelpMePLZ]

Thank you for the response! That's pretty much what I figured about sharing expenses and stuff. The main thing I'm really worried about is the fact that we have no choice but to marry before she files (since our date is a month from now). I'm keeping as much separate as possible right now and we are splitting expenses. I think I'm mainly trying to make sure that if she files after we are married that it will not affect me whatsoever since we dont have any shared (with both of our names) accounts and my name is not on the debt (even though she would be filing with the same last name as me). Actually all of her debt will have her previous last name on it.

[ValleYum]

Her BK petition will have all her AKAs and FKAs on it. Mine had my current married name, maiden name, and my last name with my ex. Any name (or permutation of a name) in which she had credit should probably be listed.

Make sure that if her filing name is her married name that her ID (DL and SS) are updated before her meeting of the creditors.

Congrats on your wedding! And best wishes for a debt-free future for your fiance!

[LadyInTheRed]

Your assets will be safe and your credit should not be affected. But there is always a chance that something will show up on your credit report that you'll have to correct. I filed alone because all of my debt was incurred before my marriage. After almost 2 years, it has had no effect on my husband's credit reports.

If your fiance files after you are married, she will have to include your income on the means test and Schedule I of the petition. She then backs out what you don't contribute to "her" household on the means test (see line 17 of the means test. I don't know how it works on Schedule I/J, but I would hope what you don't contribute to her support would also be backed out. (My husband's income wasn't an issue because he didn't have any).

I suggest you both sit down with an experienced BK attorney to figure out how best to set up your finances to make the BK go smoothly.

[HelpMePLZ]

Thank you guys so much for your input. It is greatly appreciated! I feel lost in this whole situation so I thank you for helping me out.

[oregonpilot]

We are glad we can help. Well you can get that lost feeling out of your head.....Be gone....LOL
You just cant be lost when ALL of us know where you are.....We have been in the same place.

[HelpMePLZ]

Thank you I really appreciate it.