Washington State Bankruptcy Court Laws And Why You Need A Lawyer

A person who is unable to pay his or her debts may under certain circumstances be excused from paying these debts by filing a petition for bankruptcy. Such petition is filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court. An order of the Bankruptcy Court may affect your property rights received in a divorce. If, for example, the court, in the divorce decree, ordered your spouse to pay a loan which both spouses had taken out, and your spouse is excused from paying this loan in a bankruptcy, the creditor has the option of trying to collect payments from you for the loan, regardless of what your divorce order says. Filing for bankruptcy does not change the child support which has already been ordered by the court. Filing for bankruptcy also does not generally change spousal maintenance obligations.

Once a bankruptcy petition is filed with the Bankruptcy Court, the court handling the divorce cannot change or modify child support or maintenance payments unless the Bankruptcy Court specifically permits such modification proceedings.

This is because the Washington State courts cannot make any orders, except enforcement of support orders, while the bankruptcy is being handled in the Federal Bankruptcy Court.

Filing for bankruptcy can affect a divorce property settlement. Typically, if one spouse owes another spouse some property as part of a divorce order, this property award can be "discharged," or canceled, in bankruptcy if the Bankruptcy Court looks at the property award as a debt. You should consult a lawyer if you think there is a chance that your spouse will file for bankruptcy while there are outstanding property and support obligations in a divorce.