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My ex-husband filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy shortly after we were divorced. He only included his individual accounts in the filing, not our joint ones. He says he doesn't have the money for the joint ones and that I am now stuck with them. Can he do this? I thought joint debts were the responsibility of both people on the account? If he doesn't help pay, I may be forced into bankruptcy.
Your thoughts on joint accounts are correct. Although your husband kept the joint accounts out of bankruptcy by including only his individual accounts, and thus kept his bankruptcy from showing up on your report, he is still legally responsible for helping to pay off the joint accounts that are left. His filing bankruptcy on his own does not exclude him from this responsibility.
However, as you know, they are your responsibility too, meaning that if one of you cannot pay, creditors expect the other to shoulder the burden. If one person cannot bear all of the debt load, as an option, that person may sue the other to force payment. But whether or not it would make sense to sue your ex-husband for his share of the debts depends largely on how much money is owed, how much it would cost to sue, and how long it would take to get a settlement, if any is to be had from your ex in the first place. To help you answer these questions, you may want to consult an attorney to see exactly what rules and regulations may apply to your situation in your state.
You might try reminding your ex that you took those debts on jointly and that if you find that you have no other alternative but filing your own bankruptcy on these joint accounts, the notations of doing so will not only be on your credit report, but will appear as a second bankruptcy on his. They are joint accounts and so, will appear on both your reports. And bankruptcy notations on the accounts themselves take seven years to cycle off. So, he might end up with his own bankruptcy notation in the public records section of his report, his individual account notations, and the joint bankruptcy account notations. He'll be waiting ten years for his Chapter 7 to fall off, and seven years for the account notations--all of them instead of just his own--to fall off. Forcing you into bankruptcy, therefore, will only make his credit situation worse, not better. Credit-wise, helping you is helping himself.
For more information on bankruptcy, you may wish to read, "A Few Things to Consider When Contemplating Bankruptcy."
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