bigredchuck

i married a canadian citizen 1 year ago. we went through a very long & expensive k-1 visa process. we have LARGE amount of debt from his immigration here. he turned out to be a not good guy, and he wants to go back to canada now. how do i enforce the debt he owes me in canada? it just doesnt seem right that people are able to just skip back to their country and leave their spouse in financial ruin. my only option is to file bankruptcy or pay this off for 25 years.help!!

ian-mstm

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think you can.


Well, bankruptcy will solve your immediate problem but it'll stay on your credit history for 7 years. Slowly paying off a debt for 25 years is far worse, though. Take a deep breath, kick his sorry ass back across the border, and consider this a well learned lesson.

Ian

Mrtravel

bigredchuck wrote:

    > i married a canadian citizen 1 year ago. we went through a very long &
    > expensive k-1 visa process. we have LARGE amount of debt from his
    > immigration here. he turned out to be a not good guy, and he wants to go
    > back to canada now. how do i enforce the debt he owes me in canada? it
    > just doesnt seem right that people are able to just skip back to their
    > country and leave their spouse in financial ruin. my only option is to
    > file bankruptcy or pay this off for 25 years.help!!
    >

This is really something you need to discuss with your divorce lawyer.
If they can't answer this kind of question, find a better one.

bigredchuck

thank you for responding. along with everything else, i have worked really hard to have perfect credit. so it kills me that bankruptcy is actually something i have to think about. it just doesnt seem right that people can totally ruin someones life and then poof be gone back to their country. thats why he doesnt want to stay here-cause he knows i cant make him pay in canada. we have been married 1 year & 1 month. nice. we havent even had his greencard interview yet. so all of it is just for nothing, attorneys fees, credit cards debt, etc etc. not to mention the bogus future i thought i had. this one is a hard lesson to learn for sure. thanks again for the response.

Laurence

"mrtravel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] om...
    > bigredchuck wrote:
    >> i married a canadian citizen 1 year ago. we went through a very long &
    >> expensive k-1 visa process. we have LARGE amount of debt from his
    >> immigration here. he turned out to be a not good guy, and he wants to go
    >> back to canada now. how do i enforce the debt he owes me in canada? it
    >> just doesnt seem right that people are able to just skip back to their
    >> country and leave their spouse in financial ruin. my only option is to
    >> file bankruptcy or pay this off for 25 years.help!!
    > This is really something you need to discuss with your divorce lawyer.
    > If they can't answer this kind of question, find a better one.

Yeah, I'd talk to your divorce lawyer. If a court in the US orders him to
pay you money, it can be enforced in Canada.

I lived in Ontario before getting married and moving to the US. In Ontario
you (or your representative) would have to go to court again but the
Defendant doesn't get a chance to argue the merits of the case, only whether
the Judgment is valid or not. If your Judgment is less than CAD$ 10,000 you
can do it through Small Claims Court
(http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.o...sh/courts/scc/). A lawyer is
not required in Small Claims Court, paralegals are acceptable and MUCH
cheaper. The majority of the cases in the SCC are either handled without
any professional help or with a paralegal. Lawyers, when they do come to
SCC, find they are not especially welcomed by the Judge. I guess it's
considered overkill.

Anyways, have a look at this PDF:
http://www.monteroresearch.com/engli...entHolders.pdf.
It gives you more details on what I was talking about. I've never heard of
the company that publishes it, but it's in line with what I understand of
the process.

And hey, for the record, most of us Canucks are really nice guys :)

-Laurence