I have already filed for D, and now am looking at possibly filing for bankruptcy. My STBXW and I split all our debt evenly before I moved back to TX...even though she had been a student for over 5 years and I had supported her 100%...even though I am frugal by nature, and rarely spend money on myself...even though I have a 1992 pickup truck with 196,000 mi on it, and she has 2 cars (yes, 2!) - a 1994 jeep wrangler and a 2002 Trans Am convertable with with the ram air WS6 package - 325 hp - that I made the payments for her until we seperated...even though almost every vacation we went on - usually every 6 months or so - I didn't think we could, or should, afford....

Now I am considering returning to UT Austin to resume my schooling, and I won't be able to chip away at my considerable debt load...especially if she successfully claims the house that she bought before we were married is seperate property - again, even though I made a majority of the payments on it for the last 8 or so years...she is still trying to claim it is hers and not ours.

Can anyone give me some pointers on bankruptcy? I have started to contact attorneys for consultations, but I would like to gain as much insight from every source available to me.

And I guess I have to throw this in as well...A part of me knows it will torch her credit as well as mine, so I will get that little bit of satisfaction, considering all that she has done to me over the previous 7 months, not mentioning that she essentially used me for more or less of the entire marriage.


Thoughts?


TM

I ended up filing bankruptcy after divorcing my exWS. He had been witholding some money from his paychecks for well over a year...so we were really in debt. And, the "second job" he took to earn more money to pay our bills turned out to be his time with the OW! No wonder I never saw that extra "money"!

I ended up with all the debt from our marriage because all the credit had been in my name. The court could have assigned half to him , but I knew he'd never pay it. It would all end up back on my lap so I just decided to accept it...and file bankruptcy. I had an excellent credit rating prior to this. It was a real ego blow to file bankruptcy. I was so glad that it was an option, but felt guilty because I hadn't honored my debts.

My exWS's credit rating wasn't affected one bit. I don't know how that would work if accounts were joint. I know that when my first husband and I divorced, he bought out my equity in our house. With that buyout, my name was totally removed from any financial history related to ownership of that home...for the good or bad.

One thing I do know. Bankruptcy laws are going through some major changes right now. For example, hospital bills, and bills due to being left by a spouse, may no longer be accepted as a reason to file bankruptcy. So, I'd get to an attorney ASAP. Good luck!

Texas is a community property state, though it did make some reforms to it's divorce laws to shied non-marital assets a bit. It makes no difference if you wife owned the home before marriage. If you've been making the payments for eight years, wh must give you money for your financial interest in the house. In all probability, it will no longer be considered a non-marital asset. Talk to your lawyer about this.

Been there, done that.....
It is an unfortunate truth that a large number of men come out of a divorce and are forced into bankruptcy. Let's dispel one myth: your bankruptcy will not effect your STBX's credit rating one bit. WARNING: the Bankruptcy Reform Act recently passed by Congress becomes effective October 1st. This new law is so restrictive that filing more banckruptcy by most middle class people will be pretty much a waste of time and money, since most of the debt that may currently be discharged cannot be under the new law, but must be reorganized. You'll still have a sizeable portion of your debt and a bankruptcy on your public records section of your credit report. If you are going to file, you need to file before September 30th.

You don't need a "reason" to file for bankruptcy protection. The only reason anyone files is that you have more debts than your income and assets allow you to repay. Certain debts have never been dischargable. If you don't want your wife to know about this, that's just too bad. She must be declared a contingency and notified by the U.S. bankruptcy Court of your action, since she may have financial interests that would be impacted by your action. This is true if you are still married or divorced. For example, the two of you still may have joint credit accounts and she can ask the court to rule that you reaffirm these accounts so that she doesn't get stuck with the bill. There may be jointly held assets that will need to be liquidated and a bankrupcy will effect a divorce settlement, though never in a good way. Usually it is not a good idea to try to do a bankruptcy and a divorce at the same time, since one complicates the other and can run the legal fees up to tens-of-thousands of dollars.