What Recourse Do I Have Against My Ex- for Forging My Name as Cosigner to Loans

[dupedbyCraig]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Colorado and California

In 2007 my now ex-husband took out a number of large bank loans in Colorado to fund investment activities I was not aware of. Several years ago I learned he had forged my name to 2 of these loans as a co-signer, and now I have judgments totaling over 1.3 Million entered in my name in both CO and CA (we moved to CA in 2009). The ex claimed he was going to negotiate the payoff of these loans when the investment deals paid out and get my name off the loans first. You can guess the rest of this story. Seven years later the loans haven't been paid and the investment deals have gone bad so he has no money for repayment and I can't buy a house or a car or invest anything because of the judgments.

My question is what is my legal recourse at this point now that my forged name has been on these documents for 7 years and the judgments have been in place since 2010? I didn't find out about the judgments until 2011 and we were in the middle of divorce proceedings so I only had so much bandwidth and money to pay for my legal fees relating to the divorce. I now want to take action to get my name off the loans and release the judgments because the ex is about to file for bankruptcy and I don't want this to be my only option as my credit score is perfect (834) and I'm still seething at the fact he forged my name on not only these bank documents but also rolled over my 401K funds and life insurance policies with forged signatures to invest my money WITHOUT my approval. He's a true criminal and the banks have already tried to charge him with fraud (unsuccessfully in 2011), so I need some advice on how I can clear my name from his financial mess. And how can I do this without incurring massive legal fees?

Many thanks for advice on this.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You found out about the loans in 2009. You and your husband were apparently living together, such that he accepted service for both of you and simply didn't tell you about the lawsuits. As a result you both defaulted. You learned all of this prior to or during the divorce. Are you saying that you chose not to raise any of these issues within the context of the divorce? If the divorce judgment requires him to hold you harmless from the debt, you may be able to continue to try to pursue him under the judgment (you can discuss the details with your divorce lawyer, who knows the terms of the judgment) even after his bankruptcy; but if you chose not to raise the issues at the time such that this debt is not addressed in the judgment you would appear to have given up any recourse. If you told your attorney about the loans and judgments, I would think he would insist upon addressing them - what happened?

Back when you learned about the defaults, did you make any effort to investigate whether you might be able to get them set aside? Did you take any action to do so?

Have you ever complained to the creditors that your signature was forged to the documents? If so, when? In writing? Was this an issue when the banks "tried to charge him with fraud"? Why was that effort unsuccessful?

Given the amount of time that has passed since the defaults, and since you learned of the defaults, unless your ex- is sitting on a few million and suddenly decides to pay off the judgments, it sounds like the most expeditious way forward is bankruptcy. You should consult a bankruptcy lawyer.