discharge credit card debt
Can a credit agency legally go after a spouse for a debt if it was discharged in bankruptcy ?
The credit was aquired and used under wife’s name only during a separation of the couple and discharged approx 8 years ago in court. Husband did not file bankruptcy nor did he have any link to the credit card. The collection agency has now served the husbands employer papers to garnish 25% of his check. Is this legal? Is there any recourse for the husband?
You’ve got a couple things going on here.
In the divorce decree, there must have been a property settlement and something that set out who was responsible for bills.
The problem with the bankruptcy is that only the wifes debts were discharged so if the husband had any legal liability on that card, the creditor can still go after the husband as only her debts were discharged.
The first thing you need to find out is why they are coming after you if you were never on the card. Secondly, they can’t garnish your wages without a court order so where is the court order? Did they sue you and you never showed up? If so, you probably got a default judgment against you.
It’s a bit difficult for me to believe that all of this happened that many years ago and the first time you found out about it was when they garnished your wages.
I don’t know how much the debt is but you may need the help of an attorney to sort through this and figure out what your options are.
