Hello and thank you for allowing me to address your legal question.
“i sold the house and had enough to pay off 1/2 of the 2nd mortgage”
I’m surprised by that statement. Did you have a deal with the second mortgagee that a lien would be placed on your new home? Why wasn’t the lien placed on the new home?
With regard to the rest of your question, yes the second mortgagee may go after your ex-wife if she signed the note (and in turn, she may go after you for contempt). However, you mention that it has been 8 years since your bankruptcy (and thus, I presume that it has been 8 years since you and she defaulted on the note – I say “she” because technically she defaulted as well, which is why she can be sued). If so, then your ex-wife has a statute of limitations defense. Below is the applicable Indiana law:
IC 34-11-2-9
Promissory notes, bills of exchange, or written contracts for payment of money
Sec. 9. An action upon promissory notes, bills of exchange, or other written contracts for the payment of money executed after August 31, 1982, must be commenced within six (6) years after the cause of action accrues. An action upon promissory notes, bills of exchange, and other written contracts for the payment of money executed on or after September 19, 1881, and before September 1, 1982, must be commenced within ten (10) years after the cause of action accrues. However, all contracts described in this section that have been executed before September 19, 1881, may be enforced within the time only as they have to run, before being barred under the law in effect at the time of their executions limiting the commencement of actions, and not afterward.
The second mortgagee should have sued your ex-wife prior to 6 years after default. Since 8 years has passed, it has no case. Therefore, she should hire an attorney (perhaps you should offer to pay) who can contact the second mortgagee and inform it that the statute of limitations has passed.
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No i did not make arrangements for them to attach the loan to my new house, if so my ex-wifes name would have been taken off of it, right? Since her name was not on my new house.
“No i did not make arrangements for them to attach the loan to my new house, if so my ex-wifes name would have been taken off of it, right? Since her name was not on my new house.”
Not necessarily. A refi would get your ex-wife’s name off the mortgage. But simply changing collateral would not do that. I’m confused by the fact that your house could be sold without paying the entire amount owed under the second mortgage. That makes no sense unless a lien was never filed on the house or the mortgagee agreed to lift its lien without being paid. In either case, the mortgagee was incredibly careless.
In any event, as I mentioned, your ex-wife should have a statute of limitations defense against the mortgagee. It can’t collect on a note that has been in default for more than 6 years.
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Attorney-At-Law
Licensed in Maryland