court ordered payment of debt

[jaded1]

What is the name of your state? Washington

I am writing this on behalf of a friend who recently remarried. Her DH is military and is facing UCMJ action because of a court-ordered debt that his ex-wife brought to the attention of his command, with proof that he has not paid for it. That he would be punished and could have action also taken against him in court would be understandable and logical, except for that his ex-wife is also guilty of the same thing. There are two credit card debts, one with a minimal balance, X credit card, and another with a much larger balance owed, Y credit card. My friend's DH, the soldier, was ordered to pay half of the Y credit card and all of the X credit card. Y credit card was in his name and X was in hers, but he was still ordered to pay for it. Okay, sorry that this is so long, but anyway, the sitch is that she was ordered to pay the other half of Y credit card. She was not doing that, so he was paying his half and hers, and could not afford the payment for the other court-ordered debt. I agree that it was not the wisest thing to do, and that he probably should have gone to court over her not paying her half of the other debt a long time ago to have avoided this whole mess. But obviously that didn't happen & now he is in the hotseat. My question is, what grounds does she have to pursue action against him if she is guilty of the same thing? I have tried researching some of the family law RCW's for WA state, but so far have had no luck. He has gone to JAG, but was told that they would not be able to help him and his unit has already decided upon his guilt, even though he has evidence that she has not paid her share of the debt as well. BTW, I don't know that this has any bearing on any of this, the ex-wife has no children to support, whereas my friend and her DH do together. Any help or suggestions for websites with info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...Jade

 

[ellencee]

There are very few places in law that allow for one guilty party to be excused because another person is guilty of a similar 'crime'.
This situation is not one of them. Their acts are separate and he will stand alone in his failure to comply with the order by paying the debt and for being in arrears in his payment. The military usually takes a disapproving and firm stance on these issues.

He does have recourse in taking action against her for contempt of the court order and I believe he may be able to take her to small claims court to gain repayment of the monies she owes him for the part of her debt that he paid; then again, the court may say he assumed that portion of the debt willingly and she does not owe him reimbursement.