There is no way around it, divorce sucks! Two people who promised to love, honor, and cherish instead decide to dislike, disrespect, and dispose of each other. Yup, divorce is up there with the list of things we hope we never have to deal with.
Sadly, 50% of marriages end in divorce. That means 1 out of every 2 marriages will end in failure. So even though discussing divorce is as fun as rehashing the 1993 Mets season a game an inning at a time and seems to last as long as the last Jane Austin film I was forced to watch (the last thing I wanted to hear was this is the end of Act 1), it is important to know what a divorce decree can and cannot do regarding debt.
The most important thing to know is t
hat a divorce decree cannot, on its own, change a contract. If Jack and Diane had a credit card that they were jointly responsible for and when they divorced, Diane was to be responsible for paying that debt, Jack is still responsible for it contractually. Divorce cannot change the terms of a contract with a non-related party! Think about it from a fairness perspective. Suppose rather than Citibank lending Jack and Diane $20,000, it was their friend Fred. Fred knew that Jack had a good job and Diane had always been good for the money, so he made a loan that made them both responsible. Would it be fair to Fred if a divorce decree could cut his rights to collect that debt in half? Of course not, and I dare say that banks would not make loans based on two incomes if a divorce decree could change their contractual rights.
So now Jack and Diane are divorced. Jack has the kids and is moving on with his life. Diane however is now realizing all that Jack contributed to her lifestyle and is hitting a cash crunch. It happens, it doesn’t make you a bad person! Diane stops paying the Citibank bill. It won’t take long before Jack, who has gotten his life back in order, starts getting collections calls from Citibank… unless Jack has changed his phone number, which is common in divorce.
Now Citibank doesn’t have good contact information from Jack and he doesn’t find out that Diane has stopped paying on her bill until a lawsuit is filed against him.
So you’re probably thinking, how do I avoid this? One of the smartest things you can do is keep an eye on your credit report. If you are a joint borrower, the card will appear on your credit report. You will be able
to see if the bill is being paid on time. You should also keep a record of all accounts that your ex-spouse is supposed to be paying and check them on-line! Just about every credit card company has on-line access, it is more cost effective than having phone jockeys handling the phone calls or even an IVR giving electronic information. By going on-line you can quickly see if your ex is doing what he/she is supposed to be doing.
Of course, Jack hasn’t done any of these things and now he is in pickle because he’s being sued for a debt he thought was gone because his divorce lawyer told him that he is no longer responsible for the debt. Chances are if your ex isn’t paying one bill, they aren’t paying any of them! If you find yourself in this position, you need to speak to a competent professional who can help. More than half of the people I see do not need bankruptcy, they just need to find a way out of the weeds. If this is you, I’d be happy to help, call 610-400-3093 for a free consultation. One think I tell my clients is Control the situation rather than have the situation control you!
As far as family law, I don’t do that, however if you are in the Lehigh Valley area and need a good family law attorney, I’d be happy to refer you to one. Call 610-400-3093 for the referral. Just remember that just because the divorce decree says you don’t have to pay it doesn’t mean you won’t eventually have to pay it.
