Whether you are married or separated, you can still file for bankruptcy on your own. There is no requirement that your spouse file for bankruptcy.
Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?
If you are married and maintaining the same household, then the trustee will consider your joint income to determine if you are over the median income qualifications for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or to determine what you are financially able to repay in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
If you are separated and maintaining separate households, you expenses should also be listed separately.
Contact Gina Rosato Law Firm, P.A. to discuss your Bankruptcy Options
Your divorce decree is a contract between you and your ex-spouse. This is completely separate from any contractual obligations you have with your mortgage lender or your credit card company.
Therefore, if you have a joint debt, even though your divorce decree says your ex-spouse will assume all the debt, your creditors can still come after you for the debt. For example, suppose you and your ex-spouse had a joint credit card with Bank of America for $20,000. During your divorce, your spouse assumes payment of the $20,000 debt. Your ex-spouse does not make a payment on this debt or files for bankruptcy. Bank of America can come after you for the $20,000 debt. If this happens you would need to pay it or file for bankruptcy. If you end up having to pay a anything to Bank of America you would have a cause of action against your ex-spouse once you have re-paid the creditor. If you and your spouse have significant amount of joint debt, it maybe beneficial to consider bankruptcy prior to filing for divorce to resolve these issues that may cost you more down the road in payments to creditors and additional attorney fees.
Contact Gina Rosato Law Firm to discuss your Bankruptcy Options
It is common for a bad financial situation to spiral into marital discord. One spouse may incur a significant amount of debt, fail to work for an extended period of time, or does not consult the other spouse when making purchases on joint accounts.
Divorce and Bankruptcy
If you and your spouse have a significant amount of joint debt it may be best to entertain bankruptcy as an option prior to filing for divorce. Bankruptcy is a much cheaper alternative to racking up a large bill with a family lawyer to argue about who is going to take over which debts when both people may be able to get rid of all the debt.
Furthermore, your spouse cannot assume your debt in a settlement agreement. For example, if you have a joint judgment against you from Company A for $50,000 and your divorce decree says your spouse should assume all debt from Company A. Company A can still pursue you for the debt despite what your divorce decree says. You would then have to sue your spouse to recover what you paid Company A. Therefore, if both spouses owed money to Company A, that could have been discharged in a bankruptcy, that would obviate the need and expenses to file suit against the other spouse for collection of debt after the divorce is finalized.
Contact Gina Rosato Law Firm to discuss your Bankruptcy Options
Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy can wipe out your obligation to pay the loan, but the lender can still retrieve the vehicle if you are not current on your payments.
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Car Repossession
A Chapter 7 bankruptcy eliminates unsecured debts and may free up more of your income to pay for your vehicle.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Car Repossession
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan will assist you in avoiding the repossession of your car and allow you to continue making affordable monthly payments on the loan. You can redeem your car and pay only the fair market value instead the full value of the amount borrowed if you have had your vehicle 910 days prior to filing bankruptcy. This can be very helpful for people with bad credit who are paying exorbitant interest rates on their vehicles.
Car Repossession Example
For example if you have a car loan for $10,000 on a vehicle now only worth $5,000 you can “cram down” the loan amount to $5,000 to make the payments more manageable or instead of paying an 18% interest rate you maybe able to lower it to the current standard interest rate which can potentially save you thousands of dollars in interest.
Contact Gina Rosato Law Firm to discuss your Car Repossession Options
If you car payments are unmanageable or if you have missed payments, contact me today for a consultation at: 813-463-8000.
If homeowners association fees are causing you to consider bankruptcy, you must first consider whether or not you want to save your home or surrender your property.
Surrender your property through bankruptcy
If you want to surrender your property, the overdue fees you accrued before you file for bankruptcy are dischargeable but you can still incur fees from the time you file for bankruptcy until your home is actually foreclosed on and sold by the lender.
Save your Home from foreclosure through bankruptcy
If you want to keep your home, homeowners association fees unpaid prior to the bankruptcy petition may be dischargeable, if no lien is filed in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Even if the debt is discharged, the HOA can still put a lien against your property and foreclose on it for the unpaid balance. The good news is that you can strip or remove the lien if the value of your home is worth less than you owe on the first mortgage.
Homeowners Association fees bankruptcy example
Consider this scenario. You have a debt from HOA fees amounting to $15,000. You owe $130,000 on your mortgage and the fair market value of your property is $100,000. You can file a motion to eliminate the $15,000 lien that the homeowners association has on your property, get that debt discharged and prevent the lender from foreclosing on your property. This is a huge relief for homeowners struggling to pay unforeseen assessments, fines, or who are behind on their payments only to have additional attorneys fees and costs added to their insurmountable homeowners association fees debt.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can help you with debt from homeowners association fees
Even if you do have equity in your home, filing for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy may allow you to spread the amount you owe the homeowners association over 60 months and prevent foreclosure allowing you to catch up by making a lower monthly payment.
Tampa Bankruptcy attorney Gina Rosato
If you are experiencing issues with debt from homeowners association fees, then bankruptcy is a valid consideration for you. Bankruptcy can help you to get a fresh start and the opportunity to become financially stable again. Contact Gina Rosato today for a consultation at: 813-463-8000.
Whether you are married or separated, you can still file for bankruptcy on your own. There is no requirement that your spouse file for bankruptcy.
Your divorce decree is a contract between you and your ex-spouse. This is completely separate from any contractual obligations you have with your mortgage lender or your credit card company.
It is common for a bad financial situation to spiral into marital discord. One spouse may incur a significant amount of debt, fail to work for an extended period of time, or does not consult the other spouse when making purchases on joint accounts.
Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy can wipe out your obligation to pay the loan, but the lender can still retrieve the vehicle if you are not current on your payments.
If homeowners association fees are causing you to consider 
