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Recovering Debt of Marriage

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  • Recovering Debt of Marriage

    My fiance had a separation agreement done 6 years ago, that had him pay the debts of the marriage in lieu of spousal support. This was not the best arrangement in hindsight, as he was not able to claim spousal support on CRA. Smart on her lawyers part, as she didn't have to disclose it as income. However, water under the bridge, live and learn.

    The issue I am asking advice on is that a new agreement was done over two years ago, terminating his obligation for spousal support, however, one of the debts has not been paid off. Can he now ask her to pay for her portion of the debt, and how would he go about it?
    I can tell you 100 % that we will have to fight to get it. I am just not sure in what forum to do so. I was told that family court does not deal with debt, and he would have to take her to small claims court.
    Anyone else have experience is this area?

  • #2
    His obligation for SS was dealt with in the first SA. It sounds like she only ageed to terminate SS if he assumed the debts, and that the second agreement only clarified the termination (on those terms).

    If he has agreed to pay the debt previously he will be hard pressed to get a change now. Why didn't he make sure that the new agreement reflected the previous agreement? Why does he think he can go back on his agreement? Didn't he agree to pay it?

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    • #3
      Sorry billiechic,
      I should have explained. SS was terminated because shortly after the first agreement was made, she found employment at a much higher income, and made more than he does. So the original agreement was based on her lower income. So it was less than a year from the time the agreement was drawn up, to the time she found a much better job.

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      • #4
        why didn't he address the debt at the same time then? If he didn't address it then I still think it's not going to be easy to change now.

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        • #5
          You are probably right.The reason he didn't address it before was due to the fact that our lawyer (at the time), said that we could get spousal support thrown out, but that family court does not deal with debt, and that we would have to collect her portion through other means, so she wouldn't even address it in the court documents.

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          • #6
            WRONG! If the debt was incurred during the marriage then it should have been dealt with as equalization. That is too bad, I don't know what you can do now. Small claims will uphold the SA as a contract.

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            • #7
              Sucks to be us......! Another 15,000 down the drain....

              Comment

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