Questions even my bk attorney can't answer, please help

[Anonymous]

It may be a little late for you at this point, but maybe this could help someone else.  

My bankruptcy attorney told me to quit making payments while we were getting our paperwork together to file and we also needed to wait for a couple of extra weeks to file due to a recent credit card charge we had made. 

Common sense told me that we should continue to pay on our accounts as our credit was immaculate until the paperwork was filed at the courthouse and we had a case number. 

Once the BK was filed, we only received a couple of phone calls from creditors and they were very, very nice and said thank you after we gave them our attorney's phone number and I beleive the case number.  The others were notified by the courthouse or our attorney and we never heard from them.  July 2005 BK filing.  

My reasoning was that there were no late pays either before or after the bankruptcy.  Recently I've read in a couple of forums that the late pays before the BK would still show up and could hurt us so I feel that my decision was a good one.  There are none shown on any of my CRs. 

The state of Texas came in with new licensing laws that made me shut my electrical contracting business down just after building a new home that took 3 years to build.

I kept all of my business credit as they were always paid in advance, kept my home, and now have 6 CCs with $39,000K limits total and only owe $1,775 excluding the mortgage.  My other house here pays $800 of my $872 mortgage on the new home.  Scores are mid 700s.

I opened a new business with a retired master electrician and I have a lot of business credit with several suppliers. All of the credit is in my name.

UPDATE:  I just received a report from Transunion because I questioned an account and in the report, it listed the CCs listed in the BK.  When I looked at the details of each card, it said "included in BK7/Never late."

I knew I had read that before.

Message Edited by audio on 07-29-2009 01:31 PM

Message Edited by audio on 07-30-2009 05:38 PM

Message Edited by audio on 07-31-2009 08:38 AM

Message Edited by audio on 07-31-2009 08:38 AM

[Anonymous]

Regarding holding the spouse in contempt of court if he doesn't pay his share of the bills:  Not necessarily.  If the contempt charge carries a possible jail sentence (and most do), then the court can not find the non-paying spouse in contempt of court for disobeying the court order to pay on the debts.  To do so would mean that the court was sending the spouse to jail for not paying a debt, and that is the concept of "debtors' prison", which is unconstitutional under the US Constitution.  And it doesn't matter if the judge doesn't actually send the spouse to prison; the mere possibility in the law (such as "$500 fine or 2 days in jail") is enough to make the contempt charge unconstitutional.  A great Catch-22.

[Underh20]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Regarding holding the spouse in contempt of court if he doesn't pay his share of the bills:  Not necessarily.  If the contempt charge carries a possible jail sentence (and most do), then the court can not find the non-paying spouse in contempt of court for disobeying the court order to pay on the debts.  To do so would mean that the court was sending the spouse to jail for not paying a debt, and that is the concept of "debtors' prison", which is unconstitutional under the US Constitution.  And it doesn't matter if the judge doesn't actually send the spouse to prison; the mere possibility in the law (such as "$500 fine or 2 days in jail") is enough to make the contempt charge unconstitutional.  A great Catch-22.

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Not exactly.

As an attorney who has handled thousands of divorces for military personnel, judges can and do hold spouses in contempt of court for willful failure to pay debts as stipulated in their divorce decree.  Often because the injured spouse doesn't file a motion to show cause, contempt charges are not common.  Even when the injured spouse does bring the matter back before the court, judges will generally exercise an overabundance of patience prior to jailing the spouse held in contempt.  But it does and most certainly can happen.

While there is no debtors' prison, per se, in America, the law most clearly does allow incarceration for failure to pay certain debts.  For example, those who cross state lines owing child support can, under certain conditions, be convicted in federal court and incarcerated for failure to pay.  Numerous states also use the penal code to prosecute and incarcerate those who fail to pay court ordered child support.  In your theory this should not be possible.  But it is.

Jailing someone for contempt of court is possible for failure to pay debts under very limited circumstances.  One such circumstance includes spouses ordered to pay debts as a part of a divorce decree and who fail to comply. 

[Anonymous]

Well BOA wants to settle for 60 percent less than what I owe.  Not bad for a first offer.  Problem is, even if I make a deal can't make the payments.... And darling husband refuses to pay back any of the debt.  So If I did settle all accounts I would take on 100 percent of the debt. 

I pulled my fico score today and where I once had a 710 a couple of months ago, I am now at a 487!!!  He still has credit ratings of between 606 and 558 which I still don't understand as has so many medical and cc bills in collections.  At least 3 ccs are joint and two are authorized users, you would think that the joint ones would be pulling his score down.

House and car are in good standing with no lates yet.  If I don't find a job soon I don't know what will happen as I am down to about $1500 left to my name.

I have really crushed my credit so at this point I don't see a way out other than to file BK.  487,  Can it get any worse??

Message Edited by swatwife on 08-13-2009 01:46 AM