Filing Bankruptcy With and Without Your Spouse
A San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorney comments on filing bankruptcy while married...
There are times when, as a San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorney, I have seen circumstances where one spouse will want to file for bankruptcy, but the other spouse will not to preserve their credit. In this scenario, even though only one spouse is filing, the income of both spouses must be taken for the means test to determine which bankruptcy (Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Chapter 13 bankruptcy or Chapter 11 bankruptcy) the debtor will qualify for. Sometimes, even though the debtor that wants to file for bankruptcy would be able to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy based on his income, that debtor may be prevented because the family income is too high.
One scenario where this might happen is where one spouse has certain debts which are only in that spouse’s name and may have even been incurred entirely prior to the marriage. He wants to file a bankruptcy to deal with those debts without involving their spouse. Congress stated specifically that unless the spouses are legally separated or living apart or have a valid prenuptial agreement, then the non-filing spouse’s income must be included in the means test. The reason for this in community property states is that every spouse has a community property interest in the income earned by their spouse. These requirements have absolutely nothing to do with which spouse owes the debt, whose name is on the debts/accounts, or which spouse is filing the bankruptcy case. This also does NOT mean that the non-filing spouse will be “affected” by filing the bankruptcy case. It merely means that their income must be factored into the eligibility analysis and may result in a Chapter 13 repayment plan needing to be filed instead of just a straight Chapter 7 liquidation case.
If you have questions regarding bankruptcy in San Francisco or bankruptcy in the greater Bay Area please contact our San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys at (415) 946-8882 for a free consultation or visit www.bkanswers.com and we can connect you with one of our experienced San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys. After you have spoken with one of our Bay Area bankruptcy attorneys, we can schedule you for a free face to face appointment in an office location nearest you. Our team of Bankruptcy Lawyers, Bankruptcy Customer Care Specialists and Bankuptcy staff supporting San Francisco and Bay Area consumers in debt can assist you with all aspects of your bankruptcy or bankruptcy litigation case. If you have questions about filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or would like to learn more about bankruptcy litigation, legal debt settlement, mortgage modification, lien stripping, cram down, stopping a foreclosure, wage garnishment, asset protection, discharging a debt, etc. we can help! We have bankruptcy attorneys located throughout California and Oregon who can assist you with all of your debt resolution questions. Please feel free to complete our free online bankruptcy evaluation and we can quickly determine if you are a qualified candidate for bankruptcy. We look forward to hearing from you, San Francisco Bay Area!
