Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Ohio

Filing for divorce when one spouse is contemplating bankruptcy may end up presenting special problems down the line. A bankruptcy discharge following a divorce decree may negatively impact a nonfiling spouse's interest in the couple's property division, leading the nonfiling spouse to drag the filing spouse back into domestic relations court for a remedy. Consequently, one should always consider filing bankruptcy first in order to ensure that the couple is dealing with real numbers in determining how to divide up assets and liabilities.

In general, if you do file divorce and bankruptcy at the same time, the domestic relations judge will not be able to make any determinations with regard to distribution of property and obligations on debt while the bankruptcy case is pending. However, the judge may grant a divorce and leave the property/debt issues for later.