These days you can find many low-cost options for getting a divorce. These include, online divorce services, form kits you can buy, paralegals, and even folks listed on craigslist that will “help you with the forms.” These options for divorce have three things in common: they are cheap, no lawyers are involved, and they are dangerous.
Usually, people think they will be fine using a non-lawyer solution because they have reached a settlement with their spouse. Then it is just a matter of filling out some paperwork, right?
Wrong. Many things can go wrong if a divorce (called dissolution in Washington) is prosecuted incorrectly. Once the Judge signs your papers you may be opening yourself up to some serious consequences down the line if things were not handled correctly. Just because both parties agree with the divorce settlement will not insulate you from the effects caused by a poorly prosecuted divorce.
For example, allocated marital debts are often a source of confusion. Just because you and your ex agree that he or she will keep the car and make the payments, does not get you off the hook if your ex fails to make payments. In other words, creditors who loaned money to you when you were married, will continue to hold both of you responsible for the debt, no matter what kind of agreement you have made with ex. So when your ex fails to make payments, the creditor will come after you. They won’t care about any agreement you and your ex have made among yourselves.
Similarly, if your ex files for bankruptcy, debts that were originally incurred while you were married will not be discharged. The creditors will just come after you for the money.
What about real property such as your house? If the documentation is poorly drafted and proper procedures are not followed you can lose your house long after your divorce. How could this happen?
Here is one example: Husband and wife have a home, they divorce, wife keeps the house. Twelve years later ex-husband files for bankruptcy. So far so good, the ex-wife probably has no worries, she doesn’t care if the ex is filing bankruptcy. It is none of her business, right? Wrong! (Again.)
It is very possible that the dissolution decree was poorly drafted, or as is often the case, recorded improperly. If so, then the Bankruptcy Trustee, for the benefit of the ex-husband’s creditors, will have no choice but to come after the once-marital home. Then before you know it, you will be in the middle of a serious legal fight to keep your house.
How could this happen? If the dissolution decree that awards you the marital home is not drafted correctly, and/or, the decree is not filed correctly, the trustee may have claim to all, or some of the home’s value. Basically, in these cases, the law allows the bankruptcy trustee to assume that your ex-spouse still has an ownership interest in the house. The next thing you know you could be facing a forced sale of your home to pay off debts of your ex-spouse. It is hard to imagine a worse situation.
Defending such an action in Federal Bankruptcy court will be expensive, much more expensive than hiring a attorney to help with the dissolution in the first place.
