Legal gurus...please give me your thoughts.

[bluecollar]

Going to give cliff notes, but can go into more detail if need be.

When my girl got divorced, there was a truck in both of their names through Chase auto. Divorce decree stated that he had 90 days to get it out of her name. He never did. Stopped paying. Truck was repo'd. He didn't bother telling her that.

How in the world do we get this off of her credit? She called a lawyer and he said that she could technically sue him for damages, but there's no way to make him actually pay. So we would be out court costs and still gain nothing.

Is there anything she can do to at least have this hit removed from her credit?

[Denny]

I would take the documents with that court order directly to the lender. That's your best bet.

[mstng86]

I would take the documents with that court order directly to the lender. That's your best bet.

This. But I don't think they will care.

[Denny]

This. But I don't think they will care.

They might. As long as they can pass it off to a collection agency with someone's name attached to it.

[sc281]

Sorry brother. She's stuck.

A lender does not care about a divorce decree.

Best she can do is call whatever collection agency has it and try to settle for a cheap amount and a pay-for-delete agreement.

[BP]

Did the bank give her notice before it was repo'd? A divorce doesn't compel a lender to change their terms, if she was on the lien she'd be responsible for payment if he wasn't making them.

Your best bet is to have her contact whoever is listed on her credit and discuss it. She could dispute the debt through the credit bureaus but it sounds like the debt is valid.

What she'd owe is whatever the difference between what the vehicle auctioned for and whatever was owed. Since he probably didn't pay insurance either they likely added that to the note so expect it to be several thousand dollars more than the payoff.

If it hasn't gone to auction she may be able to make payments to catch up and get the truck back.

[ceyko]

This is not the first time I've heard of this happening or very similar. The next question would be - how do you make sure the responsible party does what they are supposed to do? If they don't do it, how do you enforce it?

[bcoop]

My ex wife is on my mortgage. I had to sign some kind of waiver for her to be able to buy another house, which was enough for the lender on her new house. That said, I could walk away tomorrow not paying another dime, and she'd take the hit every bit as much as I would.


Of course, I wouldn't do that, but still. Lenders don't give a shit about court documents.

[BP]

That said, I could walk away tomorrow not paying another dime, and she'd take the hit every bit as much as I would.


Of course, I wouldn't do that, but still. Lenders don't give a shit about court documents.

Just hypothetically say you did though, couldn't that affect your parental rights? Also I'd imagine she could take over the payments since she's on the mortgage. Then again is she had the means to do that she could probably buy out your portion, assuming you'd let her. Otherwise you could live there on her dime.

[bcoop]

Just hypothetically say you did though, couldn't that affect your parental rights?

Honestly, I don't know the answer to that. I very seriously doubt they would change the current order over something like that. The logic behind my thinking is that they will not let a custodial parent alter or deny visitation based on back child support, lack of child support, etc. I could hypothetically not pay CS for 18 years, and still get visitation, if I wasn't arrested before it got to that.

Also I'd imagine she could take over the payments since she's on the mortgage. Then again is she had the means to do that she could probably buy out your portion, assuming you'd let her.

That is probably the route she would take until she got it listed and sold. I wouldn't do that to her though. We are still close friends.

[CJ-95GT]

That sucks for her. I was in a similar situation. I think all she can do is begin to repair her own credit.

[VaderTT]

My ex wife is on my mortgage. I had to sign some kind of waiver for her to be able to buy another house, which was enough for the lender on her new house. That said, I could walk away tomorrow not paying another dime, and she'd take the hit every bit as much as I would.


Of course, I wouldn't do that, but still. Lenders don't give a shit about court documents.

Quit claim deed?

[D. Lil]

Just dispute it with proof of the court orders. I would think it would be pretty cut and dry.

[bluecollar]

Did the bank give her notice before it was repo'd? A divorce doesn't compel a lender to change their terms, if she was on the lien she'd be responsible for payment if he wasn't making them.

Your best bet is to have her contact whoever is listed on her credit and discuss it. She could dispute the debt through the credit bureaus but it sounds like the debt is valid.

What she'd owe is whatever the difference between what the vehicle auctioned for and whatever was owed. Since he probably didn't pay insurance either they likely added that to the note so expect it to be several thousand dollars more than the payoff.

If it hasn't gone to auction she may be able to make payments to catch up and get the truck back.

She never heard a thing from the lender. The only reason we found out is because her son mentioned that someone took daddy's truck away during the night.

Turns out, he wrecked it, tried fixing it, locked up the motor, so he just let it sit until they came and got it. Payoff is outrageous. $19k, because he thought it was smart to roll a shit load of negative equity into it 2 years ago. It was a Tundra.

We faxed court docs to the lender and they didn't care one bit. He has destroyed her credit. A few years ago they bought a house, and he never made a single payment. So she has a forclosure on her credit as well.

It is going to be a very long and very rough ride to get her credit back to a reasonable level.

[Big A]

Shitty situation for sure, but I'd take a close look at the entire situation before getting too close to her, she's got some onus in all this. Here's $0.02, keep the change.