Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Florida

Re: Cosigner responsibility

Hi. I'm sorry to have to tell you this.

The reason why creditors get a guarantee from others or a co-signer, is so that the guarantor/co-signor will be liable if the principal obligee (here, your son) defaults, or goes into 7. Thus, you will remain liable for the debt (under the law, by co-signing it, you affirmed that you had your own liability on it, which is unaffected by your son's bankruptcy.

As to whether you will have to pay this right away, you can try to get the creditor to agree that you'll just assume your son's payments, especially if he didn't default on this till now, or to enter into an agreement with you for payment over time. There's a lot of variations on what can be agreed to (i.e., partial payment if you can convince the creditor you have no assets and may even file yourself if no deal is worked out; or if you can agree to an immediate payment of the portion, etc.)

Also, your son may agree to reaffirm this debt in his bankruptcy, in which case the creditor may leave you alone, if your son doesn't default on his payment obligations.