Handling Divorce DebtYour Legal Credit Rights After Divorce I was astounded to read in the newsletter, "Making Ends Meet", that the author would advise women to negotiate and pay collectors for accounts that were held jointly and for which the ex was court ordered to assume. This is credit suicide! As a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and a former employee of Fair, Isaac (the leading credit scoring company), I can tell you that paying off a collection that you don't owe is irreversible and will haunt your credit for 7 years. The ONLY way to ensure your future financial health is to get the collections REMOVED from the report. If you can show that the debt was assigned, by a Judge, to the ex, the collection agency has little ground to make the argument that you owe it. They would have to back it up in court, the same county most likely where the Judge assigned it to you ex. They know they will not prevail in court, so they are much more likely to compromise. IF the debt was assigned to the ex, and he hasn't paid it, the quickest way fix it is to make a deal with the collection agency to pay it under the written promise they will remove the listing in its entirety, not just list it as paid. Then you can take that receipt to the Judge, with the order that the ex pay it, and turn it into a Judgment so you can attach property or wages for repayment. In my profession, I do see husbands who refuse to pay or cannot pay these debts. I also see wives who run up the tabs on the cards prior to filing for divorce, and the husbands getting stuck with the bill. Divorce can be a devastating nightmare, or it can be worked through by both parties towards a Sustainable Settlement. Neither party should be financial ruined, but both parties should understand that a lifestyle previously shared by one household, cannot support two.
İAdryenn
Neuenburg 2005 If the collection agencies won't work with you, and you see no way possible of paying off your unsecured bills, then debt settlement might be an alternative for you. Below are more articles to help you get your finances under control after your divorce:
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