Posted on: 29th Jan, 2010 07:14 am
My wife had an affair for 8 months with a co-worker and when I found out about it we got divorced. She felt guilty at the time and was fairly nice in the divorce proceedings. She left me the house (not that altruistic of a move since we had only bought it 3 months before after she had fallen in love with it so there was no equity to speak of) and we signed something that stated she was not responsible for the mortgage on the house (we had a 80-10-10 loan). I kept the house for a year but could not afford it so I sold it. The title company didn't pay off the 10% loan and I didn't catch it until 6 months later when the bank contacted me asking me why I was behind on my payments. I told them I already sold the house and they were crazy and that is when I discovered that the title company made a mistake at closing. I attempted to pay for another couple of years on the 2nd loan but it all became financially too much and I quit paying. In the process it wrecked my credit.
Last year my wife got remarried (to the guy she had the affair with; it took so long because he was married too and had a harder time getting divorced) and now they are trying to buy a house and she discovered that the bank also jacked her credit. I didn't think they could do that since the paperwork was signed saying that it was my responsibility. However, the bank said they don't care and that someone owes them.
My wife sued and won and I have been ordered by the Texas Judicial District to pay her $21,000 plus court costs and her attorney fees and so forth. I am not going to pay her a dime since I didn't do anything to her intentionally and I feel she is at least as much at fault as I am since she is the one who insisted we buy the house knowing she was having an affair for 5 months prior to us buying the house. We had enough to put 20% down but she wanted to update the home before we moved in so we used some of our down payment money to put in new flooring and paint.
My question is what will happen now? I will never pay her a dime even if that means I will go to jail. I am considering bankruptcy but not sure if that will help.
Any advice?
Last year my wife got remarried (to the guy she had the affair with; it took so long because he was married too and had a harder time getting divorced) and now they are trying to buy a house and she discovered that the bank also jacked her credit. I didn't think they could do that since the paperwork was signed saying that it was my responsibility. However, the bank said they don't care and that someone owes them.
My wife sued and won and I have been ordered by the Texas Judicial District to pay her $21,000 plus court costs and her attorney fees and so forth. I am not going to pay her a dime since I didn't do anything to her intentionally and I feel she is at least as much at fault as I am since she is the one who insisted we buy the house knowing she was having an affair for 5 months prior to us buying the house. We had enough to put 20% down but she wanted to update the home before we moved in so we used some of our down payment money to put in new flooring and paint.
My question is what will happen now? I will never pay her a dime even if that means I will go to jail. I am considering bankruptcy but not sure if that will help.
Any advice?
johnny, there's a couple of things that are striking here. if the title company erred, what happened to that money? it had to have gone somewhere. during that 2 year period, weren't you getting any correspondence from the second mortgagee? that's odd too. also, whatever agreement you and your former wife signed wouldn't have been binding on the lender anyway, unless you had refinanced that debt. she should have been made aware of that as well.
do you have a lawyer? if so, it seems you found a poor one. how the court could hold you responsible for ruining someone's credit is ludicrous, especially since the lender obviously never released her from liability.
i don't blame you for being angry and planning not to pay. i don't know if you could be held in contempt of the court order and sent to jail - that's a matter for the courts to decide. as for bankruptcy, you'll have to discuss whether a court-ordered judgment such as the one you owe to your ex-wife is eligible to be discharged. call the court to ask that question.
advice? i'm afraid i can't really provide any, because it looks like most of the questions you have are legal in nature, and i'm not a lawyer. at least you can take some of the facts i gave here and use them in your defense, i think.
i wish you well.
do you have a lawyer? if so, it seems you found a poor one. how the court could hold you responsible for ruining someone's credit is ludicrous, especially since the lender obviously never released her from liability.
i don't blame you for being angry and planning not to pay. i don't know if you could be held in contempt of the court order and sent to jail - that's a matter for the courts to decide. as for bankruptcy, you'll have to discuss whether a court-ordered judgment such as the one you owe to your ex-wife is eligible to be discharged. call the court to ask that question.
advice? i'm afraid i can't really provide any, because it looks like most of the questions you have are legal in nature, and i'm not a lawyer. at least you can take some of the facts i gave here and use them in your defense, i think.
i wish you well.