I can not file

[HakunaMatata]

There has been some erroneous advice here...

You filing for bankruptcy discharges your portion of the liability to the bank. It does NOT discharge your liability under a seperate court order, such as a divorce decree. If you are not paying per the decree, you are in contempt of court. Not a good place to be.

That said, you need to consult with a skilled bankruptcy lawyer. It sounds like you already have. If so, their advice would be correct. I don't know about including the ex as a creditor.

Sorry, but bankruptcy does not necessarily wipe everything away.

If this is accurate (I foster little knowledge in the BK domain and even less in divorce decrees) and the deficiency is $20K, wouldn't filing C7 leave the OP in a better financial position since he would eliminate the $45k in CC debt? While not ideal, he would be reducing his debt to less than half. Is my thinking entirely off?

[sigferl]

Thanks for your post Kansas. Sorry about your job loss. I give advice that is not popular on this forum so feel free to ignore.

I think not being able to file BK in this case is a good thing because I think BK should only be used in severe permanent medical disabilities which I think is the intent of the law.

I assume you are collecting unemployment and working fulltime on fixing up the rental which should start making money for you soon.

Are you 'upside down' in the home you live in or can you fix it up and sell for a profit?

To answer your questions, answer all CC phone calls and do not accept a 'smaller payoff'. Find ways to ensure that you are paying the lowest interest rate possible on your debt and pay as much as possible each month.

The Dave Ramsey radio show is a good place for sound financial advice?

God Bless America

I have been laid off from my job.

I have $45,000.00 in CC debt. I have not paid on them in several months. Chase, CITI.

I have 2 houses. One I live in and 1 is a rental property that is not rentalable do to some repairs that it needs. It is worth about $20,000 less then what I owe on it. If I file Chap 7 and include this house the bank will go after my ex to collect the difference. Since the divorce decree states that I am responsible for paying the mortgage she will sue me for the difference. Which would be after I filed. I can not file chap 13 because I do not have enough income to make a payment plan. I am making both mortgage payments. I talked to a really good atty who explained this to me.

My questions are:
Do I answer the CC calls?
Do I wait until the CC will accept a smaller pay off?
Will the CC companies sue me?