Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Tennessee
collecting a debt from husband's x-wife
The situation is: x-wife was ordered in divorce to remove husband from any legal obligation to a mobile home that was awarded to her in the divorce in 2000. In 2004 my husband and I (we weren't yet married then, but living together) were contacted by a collections agent for the lien holder of the mobile home. My husband was never removed from legal obligation as ordered. We were told to pay up or go to court (basically) and since the agent couldn't find the x-wife and could find my husband, we'd be the ones getting sued. We decided to make a settlement to keep from going to court and keep my husband's credit record clean. We settled the $12,500.00 debt for $2,500.00 and got a paper stating that the debt was paid in full. His x-wife has been in jail and rehab until this year. Can we take her to small claims court and get a judgement for the $2,500.00 we paid plus any legal and filing costs? Or do we have to go through the contempt of court thing on the divorce since that is were it was ordered? Thank you greatly!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: collecting a debt from husband's x-wife
The proper thing to do is go back through the divorce court.