Legal Question in Family Law in Connecticut
I filed for divorce in 2007 after six months of marriage as my wife was cheating. My divorce was finalized in Aug. 2007. As part of the divorce agreement, my ex-wife requested to retain possession of a vehicle which I had cosigned for prior to our marriage. Our final divorce agreement states that she would retain possession of the vehicle and was responsible for all loan payments, insurance, maintenance, etc. on said vehicle and relieved me of any responsibility for any costs associated with the vehicle. Recently I received a call from a collection agency. She apparently defaulted on the loan, the vehicle was repossessed by the bank and sold at auction but there was a deficiency after the repo sale of $2300. I sent copies of the divorce paperwork to the collection agency and thought all was okay, but today they called me again stating that I was responsible for this balance even though the court papers state otherwise. They know where she lives, where she works and are telling me I have to pay this balance and go after her to get reimbursed. Is this correct? It seems to me that she is in contempt of court. What recourse do I have and what should I do? Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Although the divorce decree states that she is responsible, the decree can not bind a third party- the lender-since the lender is not a party to the divorce action. The lender can pursue collection from you since you were the co-signer. (that is the purpose of co-signing)
However, she could be held in contempt of court if her failure to pay the loan was willfull. The decree states she is responsible and you can hold her to that by filing a motion for contempt post judgment against her. You can hold her feet to the fire and enforce the judgment asking the court to require her to reimburse you.
The reason they are pursuing you is that they, probably believe based upon your reactions, that they have a better shot of getting the money from you than her, since she just doesn't care about it.
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