AA/CC lawsuit

I am being sued for Alienation of Affection and Criminal Conversation. It has been a long, hurtful and expensive process. I do not own anything and have no savings, as I am only 27. I pay what I can to my lawyer each month but am being charged interest so I still owe thousands of dollars. We haven’t even gone to mediation yet. I read online that declaring bankruptcy can stop a lawsuit. If I get a judgment against me I will have to declare bankruptcy anyway. So could I go ahead and declare bankruptcy now to stop the lawsuit? Oh yeah, the ex-wife wants $500,000 from me which is ridiculous and there is absolutely no way I could ever pay!

Filing bankruptcy will not bar the suit as Alienation of Affection is considered an intentional tort.

Declaring bankruptcy does have pretty serious implications on your credit. Without knowing the details, it is hard to know what her chance of success is in getting a judgment against you. It is hard to successfully prosecute these cases when there is clearcut evidence of AoA and CC. But quite frankly, these suits are very expensive to prosecute, more expensive perhaps than to defend, as the prosecuting side gets to pay for discovery. If you have nothing to get, she would be getting bad legal counsel to proceed against you.

I’m sorry that she doesn’t understand that her soon to be ex spouse is the one she should be angry with. And yes, I know well indeed how stressful this can be. These laws should have gone out a long time ago. They descend from English Common Law where women were considered property. Now they exist as a legal means to extort spouses into paying higher alimony, and for couples to place blame outside of their relationship rather than inside where it belongs.

Good luck.

Thanks for the information. This whole situation is awful. I stress and worry about it every day. The lawsuit has been going on for 16 months and I feel that every day of the last 16 months has been punishment enough. The ex wife does not work so is basically using the money she is getting from temporary support to sue me. Also once her divorce is settled she will be getting a good amount of money. So money seems to be no object to her and she seems determined to spend whatever it takes to continue with this awful lawsuit. All I want is a regular life and I am continually trapped by this thing. I want to ask my lawyer questions all the time but I can’t because that would cost more money. I just want to know that I have explored all my options…I mean what do people do that can’t afford a lawyer?

I suspect that if someone is too broke to afford a lawyer, the offended spouse is advised, rightly, that he/she should not sue. It is too expensive of a process, therapy is cheaper.

You don’t mention whether or not you and her spouse are still together. If so, I hope he is not “hanging you out to dry” in this whole situation.

Good luck.