Can a Wife File Bankruptcy Alone?
If you're considering bankruptcy, you've likely exhausted all other possible avenues of getting relief from your debts. While bankruptcy will wipe your debts clean, it will also affect your ability to get new credit for many years. A married woman can file bankruptcy independent of her husband, but her filing may have some serious implications for her husband.
Other People Are Reading
-
Definition
-
Bankruptcy is a legal avenue for seeking relief from creditors and debts. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy can wipe your debts clean immediately upon the sale of all your non-exempt assets, whose proceeds are used to repay your debts. A Chapter 13 filing establishes a repayment plan for some of your debt based on your income and erases other debt. Either type of bankruptcy may make sense for you if you incurred a lot of debt that doesn't affect or include your husband.
Benefits
-
The key benefit of filing for bankruptcy without your husband is that the bankruptcy does not appear on his credit report. That means that even if you're unable to get new credit, such as a home loan, for many years, your husband can apply and get one on his own, as long as he has a good credit history.
-
Problem
-
The problem with a wife filing for bankruptcy without her husband is that the non-filing spouse does not get his debts discharged, nor does he get the full protection of the automatic stay, which tells debtors that they must leave you alone.
Repercussions
-
If you and your husband took out joint debts, your bankruptcy filing does not relieve your spouse from that debt---only you. After you file for bankruptcy, creditors may stop calling you to ask for payment, but they still have every right to call your husband. The one exception to this is if you file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and the consumer debt is fully paid through the Chapter 13 repayment plan set out for you. In that case, your husband is protected from collection efforts.
Considerations
-
If you and your husband own a home or other property jointly, it can be included in the bankruptcy estate. That means that it may be available to pay your creditors. On the other hand, when you file bankruptcy, joint property gets protection under your bankruptcy discharge. Additionally, it will be more difficult after you file for bankruptcy to get joint property on credit, like a home or car, because a creditor or lender will look at both your and your spouse's credit.
-
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
