If a person is currently in bankruptcy, can they legally make payments on another person's debts?
Question Details:
My mother is currently having extreme difficulty making basic utility payments, etc., mostly because she is paying the cell phone bill, car insurance (and God only knows what else) for both my sister and her lazy daughter (both won't keep a job). I think the only way that she'll quit doing this is if she finds out that it is actually illegal for her to be doing so, since she currently is in bankruptcy herself.
That depends on what chapter she filed. If she filed Chapter 7, then she is free to use any income she receives post-filing for whatever she wants. She can even use assets she had prior to filing her case if the Trustee has abandoned them to her (you'd need to find out from her attorney what the status is on that).
If she filed a Chapter 13 case, unless she has your sister and daughter listed as dependents whom she supports, then she technically shouldn't have any extra income avaialble to pay them anything.
Mark J. Markus, Attorney at Law
Handling exclusively bankruptcy law cases in California since 1991.
http://www.bklaw.com/
bankruptcy blog: http://bklaw.com/bankruptcy-blog/
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