I live in Wisconsin. My husband and I are 3 years into a chapter 13 bankruptcy, and we have now seperated. The payments for the bankruptcy a...

Question

I live in Wisconsin. My husband and I are 3 years into a chapter 13 bankruptcy, and we have now seperated. The payments for the bankruptcy are garnished from my check. Is there any legal way I can get him to pay some of this?

Answer

Yes, your divorce attorney should ask the divorce court to divide the chapter 13 payment obligations in the same way that it divides up all other payment obligations. Normally that would be a 50/50 division of both assets and debts in a typical WI divorce property division. However, this is all negotiable, in which event the court will normally not rule on the issue of dividing this payment, but rather approve whatever agreement you have negotiated with your husband. Then, if necessary, the bankruptcy court can make an appropriate revision in the payroll order to carry out the family court order. If all else fails, bankruptcies which were originally filed as chapter 13's can always be voluntarily dismissed, or can sometimes be converted to chapter 7 cases where no more payments are necessary, but I could not begin to tell you whether that is possible for you or even a good idea, knowing nothing else about your case. For example, if you were using a chapter 13 to save a house from mortgage foreclosure and catch up on late mortgage payments, you may lose that protection if you dismiss and covert to chapter 7. You definitely need to set up office appointments with both your bankruptcy attorney and your divorce attorney to discuss these options. If you and your husband can no longer agree on how best to manage the bankruptcy, you may also need to get a new bankruptcy attorney, since your old one may have a conflict if a major dispute arises within the chapter 13 case between you and your husband. My comments here are not legal advice, nor do they create an attorney client relationship between us; rather they are only for public educational purposes on this website. You are, however, always welcome to contact my office in Racine to discuss any additional questions which you may have or to set up a free consultation.