Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

Re: wife wants to file bankrupcy

A wife or a husband may file for bankruptcy without including a spouse on the petition. If there are any joint debts the non-filing spouse will become immediately solely responsible for repayment of any such joint debts. The non-filing spouse credit may be affected to the extent that information about the filing spouse' bankruptcy is reported with respect to joint debts. The actual affect of this information depends on the creditor who reads the information on a credit report. As far as keeping credit lines that are not beyond repair, that is usually not possible as it is considered a preference. Preferences, giving one creditor preferential treatment over another, are generally not allowed by the bankruptcy trustee.