Hold Harmless?

[Fatherforever]

My Ex Wife owes several liabilities from our divorce, namely a computer she bought shortly before she left. She has not paid anything towards the balance and now it has gone to collections. The rest of her liabilities are her own personal credit cards, I took on all other debt to get her to sign the parenting plan I designed (hence I have the children, don't care about paying that extra money!)

I was looking through my divorce decree today and found a section called "Hold Harmless Provision". Which states as follows:

"Each party shall hold the other party harmless from any collection action relating to separate or community liabilites set forth above, including reasonable attorney's fee and costs incurrred in defending against any attempts to collect an obligation of the other party."

Does that mean, since she refuses to pay it, I can't hold her in contempt for what she does owe? I have been balancing all the other debt well, but this one slipped into collections, because it was her liability not mine, but now it is on my credit report.

Can I take her to court to get her to pay?

~Fatherforever

[tigger]

How is it on your credit report if you didn't sign for it?  You can try to demand the original creditor prove that it's your debt.

[Fatherforever]

It was purchased while we were still together, so both our names are on it, but in the divorce decree she is supposed to pay it.

[MixedBag]

IMHO -- and I'm no attorney -- it means that when an agency comes to collect on the debt that she will hold YOU harmless because even though it's joint, she agreed to pay for it and you are harmless or not at fault for her actions. 

It's a clause that you're supposed to be able to use to defend yourself for when they come after you because the debt is joint.

HOWEVER, it surely doesn't always work that way.

[phil]

I agree with MB....the creditors are not a party to your divorce agreement and they can and will go after whoever is legally required to fulfill the debt obligation.  If it was a joint account, they can and will come after both of you.  You can pay the debt and then file for contempt in family court, based on your agreement, and ask she have to repay you.  You don't want to let it sit based on the fact she was supposed to pay it, because your credit will be trashed by that.

[MixedBag]

I was haunted by something similar after EX#2 and I split -- and it wasn't totally his fault for a change.

We split our joint accounts each agreeing to take the "other" off etc.  We signed statements and separated stuff.

THEN within the first year, when I applied for credit, some of the joint stuff wasn't removed by the creditors and banks.  EVEN THOUGH I called and confirmed that my name was off like 3 months down the roadafter the divorce, 6 months down the road those accounts were still on my report.  And of course that meant I could see/know the balance.....and the automated system told me what the status of those accounts were, and a phone call to the banks said "NOPE, you're not on the account anymore."  And my question back to them was "Well, why is it showing up on my credit report?"  I think I even let the EX#2 know in a letter -- probably a nasty one -- but hey.

So for a while, I'd check the status of the account using the automated system, confirm again via a phone call that I was OFF the accounts, and get my annual free report to see what it said -- mainly that the accounts didn't show up.  One was really stubborn, and vigilance and persistence paid off.

So with EX#3, I was very careful about "joint accounts" -- and you may as well forget it after strike 3.

Now I say "WE" will save up for something together into an account BEFORE we buy.  Takes a bit longer, but it's most definitely more satisfying.

YES, in many senses, I agree -- IF you can, take over the joint debt and then file for reimbursement via the family court.  YES, family court can collect or do things like "suspend" child support payments or "reduce" child support payments do in essence you can get your money back.  It takes time, and no you shouldn't HAVE to do it.....but hey!

[CuriousMom]

We use to do a Hold Harmless in real estate - if someone wanted to move personal belongings into a property before settlement they had to sign a Hold Harmless Agreement, stated that if anything happened to the real estate the loss of personal belongings would NOT be the responsibility of the current homeowner.

I'd have to agree with MB and phil.  If it's joint they can still try to collect from both but if you eventually got sued over it the clause may remove you from being responsible.  I'd check with your attorney to make sure though.