Claiming Mortgage on Means Test??s

[no_it_all]

My ex-wife asked me to help her refinance her (our old) house. She couldn't do it on her income. I co-signed (yeah, I know, I know!) about two years after the divorce. The divorce decree says she is responsible for the payments, etc, etc, which she has been paying fine. However, I am still on the Lender's paperwork as a co-borrower. Can I add that mortgage payment into my Means Test even though I am not paying it? I am thinking yes, since if she defaults, the lender will come after me, and if I don't include it in a Chapter 7 I can someday be bitten in the butt with it...thoughts??? BTW it looks like with an income about 10K higher than the median in my state, Chapter 7 is still an option....

[Jenny]

No, you can't claim it as an expense. You're not paying it. You claim it as a debt and have your obligation discharged in your bankruptcy. Then when she defaults, you won't owe anything.

[Minnymouth]

NO It All,

Sounds like you still have a "soft spot" for the spouse..... and yes it can bite you in the A....
Include it as a debt, get it discharged in a Chapter 7.....

You need to change your name "No It All"....... if you knew it all - you wouldn't have signed papers as co-signer on an ex- spouse.

My thoughts

[LostOne0069]

no-it-all: Personally, I think it's great that you stayed on good enough terms with your ex to be willing to help her out with getting a mortgage. Too many men in this world dump their wives who have given up carreers to raise families or otherwise put themselves in a position in this male dominated society that after divorce they end up destitute. Good for you for not being one of those.

Now, as to the rest of it... yeah, you can't claim it as an expense since you don't actually pay it.... it's just like if you had a $500 car payment on a car that you're giving back... you can't claim it as an expense if you're not going to have that expense after the bk.

You should probably make sure you bring this up to your attorney as if you just include the co-signed mortgage in your bk... yes it will absolve you of that debt and the lender can not come after you for it.... but I don't know what the lender would then do to your wife's mortgage. It may be that they just go forward with her as the only responsible party, but it also could be that they have some legal mumbo-jumbo in the contract that could really screw her over. If this is the case she'd probably want to re-finance the house to get you off the note before you did the bk.

You don't want your good deed to backfire and end up with her losing the house after all. I would say that any negative outcome for her is unlikely... but I would still highly recommend you have your attorney check it out.

Good luck!

[no_it_all]

Duh! Now that you all wrote it, it makes perfect sense to me....thanks! I'll make sure and put down the mortgage and will not claim that I pay it....

[Minnymouth]

Duh, since you "don't pay the mortgage" - you'll have lots of disposable income, huh???