Key Largo, FL Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

Support payments cannot be discharged, and if he does not pay, the bankruptcy will not protect him from filing a motion for contempt, having a hearing, and him being placed in the custody of the sheriff for up to 6 months.

No. You need to talk to your bankruptcy attorney. There is a difference between discharging debts and "surrendering" the property. You probably stated that your intention was to surrender the property, but you will still own it until the title is transferred to the lender or the property sold to a third party. Meanwhile, new homeowner's association dues may be your responsibility. Check the CC&Rs. I know this is confusing, but this is why you should hire competent bankruptcy counsel with you do something as important as filing for bankruptcy.

Your wife certainly could file bankruptcy now, although your income would have to be included in her Means Test and might impact her Chapter 7 eligibility. While the fact pattern set forth does not reference this, things could get a little dicey if (1) a matrimonial agreement or divorce decree called for or required your wife to "indemnify and hold harmless" the ex-husband from this debt, and (2) the ex-husband files an Adversary Proceeding in your bankruptcy seeking a declaration that said credit card debt should not be discharged. If this occurs, the ex-husband should prevail and the Bankruptcy Court should determine the debt to be non-dischargeable. Not surprisingly, I have not seen any reported cases dealing with the scenario where the ex-spouse did not file an Adversary Proceeding, but I suspect that the result would be the same. You should fully discuss this matter with competent bankruptcy counsel.