Ask a Lawyer - Archive

Why can my ex file bankruptcy on items that he agreed to pay in our divorce decree?

Bankruptcy law provides that any obligations created by a divorce decree are not dischargeable in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The changes to bankruptcy law eliminated the "balancing of the hardships" test that formerly governed divorce debt in favor of a flat rule that obligations created in divorce are not dischargeable in Chapter 7.

It's different in Chapter 13. There, obligations to pay marital debts or hold the other spouse harmless from outside debt is dischargeable.

Support obligations, whether to spouse or children, are not dischargeable in any chapter of bankruptcy.