Methuss Posted June 15, 2005 Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 Ok someone probably has answered this but I didn't find anything by searching.Friend of mine is in the following situation. State is IllinoisHis wife has a boatload of credit problems that existed before he even met her. One of those is a default judgment (Midland) for an old Home Depot account. She recently applied for credit and triggered a response. Midland has sent notice to her employer to execute garnishment of her wages. Frankly she's a stubborn a$$ about the whole matter and won't even talk about the matter so I'm running under the assumption she was properly served and stubbornly ignored the summons to appear in court.This whole mess has them evaluating if bankruptcy is the right thing to do for her. Their house is in his name only as are all other tangible property. The question is, if she files individual bankruptcy (chapter 7) will he be dragged into it? Will the house and other property become subject to the bankruptcy proceedings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bingo Posted June 15, 2005 Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 If all assets are in his name he'll not be dragged into the bk. The only way he may be involved is if the trustee wants to question her expenses. She may have to file a Chapter 13 if it's determined that she's not liable for paying half the mortgage or utilities, etc. since they're in his name. She just really needs to sit down with a lawyer and lay out the entire situaton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamwhatiam Posted June 15, 2005 Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 Illinois is not a common law state, I think that is the term, meaning that what is hers is hers and what is his is his. As long as any tangible assests are in his name and not hers, they cannot touch them. However, anything that is jointly owned, must be detached, and done so before filing BK or it can be construed as fraud. As someone who filed BK in Chicago, IL I want to mention that it is one of the easiest courts to go through. However, before the BK is filed, she and he must make sure to have her removed as an AU from any of his accounts. Given the blatant sloppiness of the credit reporting agencies, it has been known to happen that accounts that were BK'd show up on the spouses reports. This is rare, but as we all know anything wrong that defies logic can happen with credit reports.They will have to watch their credit reports like a hawk after the filing and discharge.I also suggest that she avoids hiring Peter Francis Geraci. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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