Q: Divorce paperwork states I am not responsible for mortgage with ex, WF will not remove me. Can I include it in BK?
Considering BK, but unsure if I can include mortgage for home in Texas that my ex-husband hasn't removed me from (it's been 7 years). Wondering if I can include it in a BK with other debts.
A: Actually you are required to list all debts associated with your name on your bankruptcy. It isn't optional. A divorce court has no power to order that you are not responsible for the debt in the sense that this statement cannot force the creditor to remove you from the mortgage. So this statement without something more, like ordering your wife to refinance, was really a useless piece of verbiage. Divorces don't change the rights of creditors. If you signed a document to pay a mortgage, the creditor can still enforce it against you. It doesn't matter what the divorce court says or does. The creditor is not a party to your divorce so the court can't make any orders the creditor has to follow.
A:
Dear Asker,
While the divorce judgment has no power to alter your obligations to Wells Fargo, it does establish the obligations between you and your ex-spouse. If you file bankruptcy on the mortgage Wells Fargo will not be able to sue you or garnish your wages, but they will be able to foreclose and take the house. Hopefully the ex spouse is in the house and you are not and therefore you either don't care whether it is foreclosed or you assume he/she will maintain the payments by themselves in order to keep the house as the divorce judgment directs.
On the other hand, if the divorce judgment made you responsible for a debt and you went out and filed bankruptcy on it, then the divorce judgment trumps the bankruptcy. This means that, although you got rid of your obligation to the creditor by filing bankruptcy, you would not get rid of your obligation to your ex spouse and, in spite of the bankruptcy, they would potentially be able to go to court and enforce your obligation to pay the debt or pay them back for any debts they paid that were your obligation under the divorce judgment.
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