Collections After Chapter 13 Discharge
My question involves bankruptcy in the state of: TX
I filed for a CH. 13 in July of 03. This has since been discharged. My EX husband and I were buying a house which in the Chapter 13 was returned to the mortgage company. I received several letters during the Chapter 13 from the mortgage company reminding me the loan was in default. The bankruptcy was discharged in November 07, and a copy of my credit report about that same time shows that the house was not in arrears. I have been in contact with the mortgage company and local offices to try and remove my name from the property, to no avail. The attorney that represented me wants $200 to just open the file on the case because it is so old. Once again I am getting letters from the mortgage company, looks like they are sending them out daily both certified and non-certified, requesting repayment of the loan. I have not lived in the house in over 5 years, and from what I understand the house has been torn down.
I am newly married, no longer reside in TX, and do not want this to reflect on my current husbands record, nor do I want the IRS involved, which the letters from the mortgage company are saying.
What can I do to stop this, short of paying for something I volunteered to surrender during the bankruptcy hearing?
Re: Collections After Chapter 13 Discharge
$200 seems quite reasonable for digging through the files and trying to figure out what happened.
You didn't tell us the arrangement with your ex in relation to the mortgage and house. If I were to guess, you were both on the mortgage but he took the house in the divorce and was supposed to make payments. You probably didn't include the mortgage in the Chapter 13 plan, as he was supposed to make the payments. There was no discharge of your responsibility for the debt, as it was a restructuring not a Chapter 7. And now there's an outstanding balance, no discharge, and your name's on the mortgage so they want you to pay.
If that's right, they would be just as happy if your ex- paid, so if you have recourse under your divorce judgment perhaps you can get the divorce court to order him to pay the balance due.
Re: Collections After Chapter 13 Discharge
We were both on the mortgage, but the house was surrendered and he was not included in the filing of the Chapter 13. Since there was no community property in the divorce other than a car, there was nothing to divide as the house had been surrendered according to my lawyer and the papers that were drawn up.
I do not know if the mortgage company attended the meeting to agree/disagree with the action, and have been told on the phone that they do not have to accept the surrender if they do not want to.
I don't know the law, but I do know that I want nothing to do with a loan on a property that does not exist, especially since I no longer live in that state.