In need of serious credit help...my ex wife is ruining me.?

Question

Per the divorce decree my ex wife is suppose to be taking care of her debt and isn't. She has disappeared and now I have them calling me. How can I protect my credit rating since no one actually allows the "filed" divorce documents in civil court to be a ruling on who is responsible for what debt. This is getting really bad.

Answer 1

Divorce decrees are worthless creditors are not bound legally by them the only thing they are good for is dragging your ex back into court when she violates it.

As far as saving your credit the only thing you can do is pay the bills and then sue your ex for violating the decree.

Answer 2

I recommend getting a laywer to handle this. But you are going to need to write a letter of dispute to which ever debt collection company is calling you. Then it's gonna take about 30 day for that to process. Mean while tell them to cease calls. Then they will contact you and you can go from there.  

Answer 3

Sorry to tell you this, but collection agencies consider married couples to have equal responsibility for the debt of one or both. The credit report agencies receive information from them noting your delinquencies, not the circumstances. Since the collection agencies know where *you* are, and they don't know where she is, you must deal with her debts, unfair as that is, before they put a lien on your property or something worse.

You can take her back to Family Court on contempt of court charges, but you'll still have to answer for the debts while you're waiting for the court to act. The process server has to be able to find her--more delay. I'm guessing you will be expected to locate her. Ask your attorney for guidance.

There are agencies on the internet that claim they can find anyone for a fee, usually $50 or less. I'd call the "Clark Howard [Radio] Show" information line (www.ClarkHoward.com) and ask about the effectiveness of these agencies. IMHO, he has reliable information about legit sites. His staff is available to answer questions by phone all day, all week long. The phone nr. is on the site.

Report and prove your divorce with notarized copies of the decree that orders her to pay her debt, how much that debt is, and send to the three credit agencies. Explain the situation in a brief letter. Request they append this information to your file. Check back in two weeks to see if they did it. Pester them until they do, then get a copy of the amended report to show to your (her) creditors.

In every case where both your names are on a debt she's supposed to pay, call and write the company, making sure to attach a notarized copy of your divorce decree, and explain as concisely as possible the situation you are in.  Ask if they will remove your name and address from the account. It never hurts to ask. Unfortunately, they may insist you pay. Get them to agree to a payment schedule and get it in writing.

Be cooperative, sound eager to pay, and do the right thing (even if it shouldn't be your responsibility). Bill collectors get nothing but grief, so they are stunned when a debtor wants to make things right. Pretending to be friendly can minimize the phone calls. Agreeing to a payment schedule can end them. Get all agreements in writing.

If you have shared credit cards, call all the credit card companies where you hold a joint account, and find out if you are logged as the primary cardholder. If you are listed as the primary cardholder, take her off the account and change the account number or close the card so she can do no more damage. If you are not the primary cardholder, have them remove your name from the card.

  

Answer 4

do you still have joint credit card or loan accts? if no, then her debt is not your problem

Answer 5

When you do find her she'll be held in contempt. In the meantime filing for bankruptcy maybe an option. Consult a bankruptcy lawyer/firm and they'll be able to give you proper counseling.  

Answer 6

The only thing you can do now is pay. If your name is on the debt,regardless of the divorce decree,your creditors have the right to come after you.Then, you can sue your wife to get that money back. It is going to be hard,but at least you won't ruin your credit even more.

Answer 7

You are unfortunately in an all to common situation when it comes to divorced couples, As you have been made aware a family court does not have the jurisdiction to remove some one from third party contractual debt ,

The only way to protect your credit is to pay the debt then sue her in court,  while going back to family court to try and have her part of  the decree enforced

Answer 8

this is where you should have kept all the bank statements and so on, then you could prove that the debt is not yours.