Delay dividing property in your California divorce and a bankruptcy filing may cost you any shred of control over the division. All it takes is for your ex-spouse to file bankruptcy, and all the assets and the debts of the marriage become entangled in a bankruptcy case. Understand California community property That’s because your assets […]
Bankruptcy Can Rewrite The Divorce Property Division
The assets were divided in the divorce. The divorce was over. The house would go to Him, and he would pay Her $75,000 on stated terms. It was the end of a miserable stretch in their lives. Only it wasn’t. Before anyone recorded the judgment of dissolution (that’s Californian for “divorce”) laying out the division […]
“Hold Harmless” Survives “To Have and To Hold”
Divorce usually requires the division of the debts of the marriage along with the assets. The legalese usually requires each party to indemnify and hold harmless the other from the debts assigned to that party. Most folks skim over that provision to worry about the division of assets or support issues or the termination of […]
When Your STBX Files Bankruptcy: An Action Plan
Whether the news comes by phone or mail, the notice that your soon-to-be-ex spouse has filed bankruptcy can bring fear and confusion. You need some facts and a plan, now. So let’s look at how bankruptcy affects a non filing spouse and how to chart a course through a STBX bankruptcy case. Child support safe […]
Separate Finances Doesn’t Protect Spouse From Financial Disaster
By keeping separate finances, this California couple thought they had insulated the wife from the financial woes of her entrepreneur husband. They didn’t share bank accounts nor credit cards while she carefully kept her distance from his business dealings. Her name was not on anything tied to his business. But “separate” isn’t enough to overcome […]
Five Ways To Bankruptcy Proof Your Divorce
No matter how prejudicial or unfair, a Chapter 13 discharge will relieve a former spouse of obligations of all obligations to their ex except for support. It’s too late to protect your hard won rights to non support payments once the bankruptcy is filed. Let’s look at how ex spouses are vulnerable to a bankruptcy discharge. Then […]
Dividing Debts At Divorce: What You Need To Know
The division of the debts of a failed marriage, however carefully crafted at divorce, can be utterly destroyed if one of the former spouses files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 discharge is double barreled. It will eliminate the debts that the filing spouse owes to creditors. But, it also wipes out any obligation to […]
Bankruptcy And Divorce Collide: The Threatened Filing
My soon-to-be ex threatens to file a bankruptcy tomorrow and get me kicked out of the house. The frantic voice on the phone wanted to know whether he could do that in California. Or better, how he could be stopped from upsetting the pending divorce through the bankruptcy courts. Welcome to the volatile collision between bankruptcy and […]
The Most Costly Community Property Blunder
What do you do when creditors from your spouse’s past threaten? Chances are your first reaction is to put the title to your biggest assets in just your name. Whew! Safe. Not. Just because the deed to the house now reads Jane Doe instead of John Doe and Jane Doe it’s easy to think the house is Jane’s separate […]
