A Married Couple’s Guide to Filing Bankruptcy

Wisconsin is known as a community property state. This means that any assets or debts that a married couple collects during marriage belong to both of them. Even if the wife is a stay at home mother, her husband’s credit card debt burden legally belongs to her. When filing for Milwaukee bankruptcy, couples need to consider whether the debt they need to discharge was incurred before or during their marriage.

Filing Jointly

Most often, if you and your spouse have debt—from remodeling a home, getting behind on your mortgage payments, or racking up credit card bills—you will jointly file. This means that both of your “estates” will be financially affected, and creditors can look to repossess or sell property that belongs to both of you or was acquired during marriage. Wisconsin’s community property laws mean that you and your spouse will be affected evenly. Depending on your situation, this option will protect most of your assets and help you discharge more debts than with an individual petition.

One Spouse Filing on His or Her Own

Sometimes, one spouse incurs a great deal of debt in his or her name only, or incurs the debt in its entirety before marriage. If so, he or she can file without requiring their spouse to do so as well. However, the courts will generally require information from the spouse about salary and other assets of the non-filing in order to determine whether or not the filing spouse qualifies for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

If you are a married couple looking to Milwaukee bankruptcy as a solution to your financial burdens, contact Burr Law Office today. We can help apply the U.S. bankruptcy law to your family’s specific financial situation. Call (262) 827-0375 to see how we can protect your assets while discharging debt! If you are in Milwaukee and looking for a bankruptcy lawyers near me, call Burr Law today.