Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Massachusetts
bankruptcy
i filed bankruptcy and it has been discharged. So can is my wife liable for any of the bills? We are not sure if she signed any paperwork requesting a card or if I just got her one.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: bankruptcy
A bankruptcy discharge only benefits the person who filed bankruptcy, not a spouse or business partner, etc. Sometimes a credit card company will try to claim that the spouse or business partner is liable when in reality the other person isn't liable. It's a matter of contract law; if the other person didn't sign the contract, the other person isn't liable.
It may be, also, that the issue is not whether a spouse requested a card, but whether the spouse USED the card. Signing a credit card receipt for a purchase could be construed as a promise to pay, so if the spouse signed a receipt, that could make the spouse liable, regardless of whether the spouse requested the card in the first place.