Promissory Note Between Parents and Son-in-Law

[doneandoverit]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: CA... I recently am divorced Mar 2012. My former spouse signed a promissory note of monies that he owed my mother for $34K. He signed this notarized note in Dec. 2009... I tried to have this included as part of settlement in our divorce proceedings but the judge reserved judgemnet and said this is a civil matter. The 34k is split from 2 loans one for 14k for back child support he owed from a previous marriage and 20k from a wrongful termination lawsuit that he lost. It is my understanding that since he acknowledged these monies owed in Dec.2009 then the stautue of limitations resetted on that date. His lawyer said to him not to woory about it since the loans were made long ago. Question 1 - is his lawyer right? Question 2 - With signed promissory note that was legally notarized can my mom go after just him for the monies owed or should i be in the lawsuit since we were married at the time? Question 3 - Can she sue him for this ?? She has no more money and was counting on getting paid back and my ex thinks he can just walk away from this debt... Question 4 - If she receives a judgement can she garnish his wages if he does not make good faith payments to her?
Thank you so much for any and all help!!!

[Mr. Knowitall]

Either the debt is a marital debt, properly addressed in the division of marital debts and assets, or it is a separate obligation that can be assigned to him apart from his share of the marital debts and assets. You seem to be suggesting that it's the latter. You seem to want to force him to pay off the note through the divorce judgment, even though the debt is to a third party.

If your mother wants to recover the money, she can sue him for the money and, if she obtains a judgment that he has not paid by the time your divorce is resolved, try to collect the judgment from his share of the marital estate. I'm not going to speculate on whether the debt was renewed in 2009 based upon a writing I have not seen - if your mother wants to try to enforce the debt in court, he can raise the statute of limitations as a defense and the court will make a ruling.