Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

I had a vehicle repoed in 2001. It was in mine and my exwifes name. It was in the divorce papers she was not responsible but she included it in a bankruptcy she filed in 2012. Now she is trying to sue me for it. Can she do that? Had statue of limitations run out?


Asked on 9/27/15, 4:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Ok. You have a couple of different issues here. Responsibility for the debt has nothing to do with divorce. Whatever names are on a loan agreement stands regardless of what a divorce court order says.

It looks like both you and your wife were financially responsible for the debt for the vehicle. I don't care whose name was on the title. It matters who was on the loan. Just you, just your wife or both? I will assume both.

Ok - vehicle gets repo'd and you get divorced. It also looks like divorce court made you financially responsible for deficiency owed on car or car payment and you either failed to pay and car was repo'd or you failed to pay the deficiency.

Your wife, if she was on the car note, was still liable for the debt and if this and her other debts were such that she could not afford to pay then she properly filed bankruptcy. Her filing did not constitute payment of the debt. It just means that her liability for the debt is extinguished and she is no longer liable in the event the car lender came looking for money.

The car lender can sue you provided that you were also on the car note. However, the statute of limitations in Georgia has long since passed on any deficiency. This is not even on your credit any more. So as regards the car lender or any junk debt buyer, IF your name was on the car loan, then the statute of limitations probably has expired assuming that the last payment of any kind was made 6 or more years ago. However, the statute of limitations is only a defense to be asserted in court in an answer to a complaint. It does not mean that you do not owe the debt. The debt exists for all eternity. If you raise the defense in an answer and if the court agrees the debt is time barred, it only means you no longer have any legal liability for the debt to the car lender or their assignee.

You ask can your wife sue you? Anyone can sue at any time for anything. I have not seen any lawsuit papers so I do not know what your ex-wife is trying to sue you for. Her remedy was to go back to family court if you did not comply with the court order. You do not indicate any relevant dates so it is impossible for me to determine whether the statute of limitations on any cause of action has expired. I also don't understand what it means that someone is "trying" to sue. That is like being only a "little bit" pregnant. You are or you are bot. Likewise, either your wife has sued or she has not.

If you have been sued (meaning a legal complaint has been filed in court and served on you) then you need to take the papers to an attorney for review. You have to see what you are being sued for. Only then can you determine what defenses, like theg statute of limitations, you will have.

I do not see how your ex-wife could sue you for the car debt though because her liability for the debt was extinguished by the bankruptcy. If she paid the car debt (you can reaffirm debts in bankruptcy and pay them voluntarily) then she would be entitled to reimbursement for the amount that she paid. However, I really would doubt this because no one would pay on a re-possessed car if they were filing bankruptcy unless the car was repo'd and she was still within the period to redeem the car and get it back. If the car was already gone then she would have discharged her liability for the debt. But you give no dates as to what happened when so its not possible to know what happened here. You also do not tell me what kind of bankruptcy was filed or when the discharge was granted or if it was dismissed. This all makes a difference. However, if your ex-wife sued you, it also could be for something else.

Bottom line - if you are sued, you need to get to a lawyer and pay the lawyer to look over the papers and see what is going on and then determine if you have defenses. If so, you need to file an answer and assert them because if the statute of limitations or other defense is not raised in a properly filed answer, its waived, meaning it does not apply. If you have not been sued, then the ex-wief is just blowing smoke and is all upset over something. In which case, you need to find out what that is and deal with that.

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Answered on 9/27/15, 8:40 pm


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