Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

I live in NC and my husband has a judgement against him. We have a jointly owned vehicle valued at $18500 with a remaining loan balance of $16500. I get offers to refinance at a lower rate. If I do so can my husband co sign without being on the title? And will that affect the judgement? I fill out the notice of exemptions when it comes. Any advice would be apprciated!


Asked on 5/03/15, 8:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You do not fill out the exemptions if your husband has a judgment against him. Your husband has to fill out the exemptions.

Your husband cannot convey away assets now that he has a judgment against him; it would be a fraudulent conveyance if he signed his share of the car to you. You should have thought about this before the judgment was entered. Going forward, he cannot have his name on any assets as this poses a problem if you go to sell it.

Your car is not at risk for right now. Your husband is allowed to exempt up to $3500 equity in any one motor vehicle. That means that your half of the equity can be $3500 too. Right now, you only have $2000 equity total. The car is safe.

I suppose you could refinance and keep the car in both of your names. That would not be a problem as far as fraudulent conveyance law goes. If your husband gets served with exemptions, I would strongly encourage him to contact me or another attorney like me who assists clients in fillinmg out the exemptions properly for a reasonable fee. Long term, your husband needs to think about how he is going to resolve the judgment debt - by either paying or filing bankruptcy.

If your husband is interested in getting help with the exemptions or resolving the debt in a non-bankruptcy context, please have him contact me at [email protected].

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Answered on 5/05/15, 8:14 pm


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