Wife being sued for my debt

[MAL]

My wife is being sued by a collections agency.
The thing is she was never on the original credit card, had never signed anything and even the original fine print on the contract for the card I took out, states I am solely responsible for all the debt.
I recently was discharged on a Ch. 13, so I have been paying each month. The credit card company in this case is on the petition and is un-secured.
We have been separated for a year. She started receiving letters from a collections attorney demanding payment.
I sent the attorney a cease and desist letter for her and also a letter informing them I had included the card on my Ch. 13 and gave them the case # and trustee info to contact.
Today my wife received a summoms to appear in small claims court and is being sued by this collection agency via the same attorney I wrote the C & D letter too.
How can they do this and do I have any recourse. She is stressed out by this and now has to appear in court for something she is not even involved in. I very pissed at me for this new issue coming up.
Thanks for any feedback.

[CindyLou]

what state are you in? Is it a community property state? In some states, spouses are equally responsible for spouses debt whether on the original debt or not.

[MAL]

Florida

[lrprn]

Florida

Florida is NOT a community property state, so if the information you have provided is accurate, then your wife is not responsible for this debt. Unfortunately unless this lawyer relents (unlikely) she has no choice but either hire a lawyer to fight this or to go to court to ensure that this case is thrown out by the judge. If she goes to court, she needs to have your case number, a certified copy of your original creditor list showing this debt as listed and then discharged through your Ch 13a , and copy of your Ch 13 discharge papers from the court. It sounds like you have the original cc agreement - have her bring that along too.

Sounds like this collection agency is one of the scummy ones. If your Ch 13 lawyer is still around, contact him/her to see what advice they give in this situation.

Also do contact the Federal Trade Commission, the US government agency in charge of protecting consumers from this kind of hassle, to report what this collector is illegally doing to your wife. To file a complaint, visit http://www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

Good luck - hope you can get this settled before your wife has to go to court. Please keep us posted on what you find out, ok?

[MAL]

Thanks for the feedback.
I am going to be talking to my attorney Monday.

[SinkingFast]

In the mean time,............. I'd suggest you pull and your Ex pull your Credit Reports and see how that particular acct was being reported to the CRA's by the Creditor.

You can pull all 3 reports for free at http://www.annualcreditreport.com

If the Creditor is reporting correctly, and your wife had usage privileges, her report should show AU for Authorized User. If the Creditor is reporting in error, her report may show J for Joint responsibility. If the Collections Agency is seeing a J, that could explain why they are going after your Ex.

This may be something you have to address directly with the Creditor. Get the CC LOC reporting accurately on both of your Credit Reports.