“If you come after money from me in our divorce, I’ll file bankruptcy!” That is a bellow often heard in divorce cases. Is it a meaningful threat? The answer: It depends.

In most matrimonial cases, bankruptcy will prove ineffective, except perhaps to cause short-term delay or convince a skeptical spouse or Family Part judge that the debtor genuinely has financial troubles. Most bankruptcy lawyers and more than a few family practitioners know that family support obligations, which include alimony, child support, an opponent’s legal fee award and other decrees “in the nature of support,” are not dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. §523(a) in a Chapter 7 case, and generally cannot be altered in a Chapter 11 plan under 11 U.S.C. §1129(a)(14). And under the 2005 Bankruptcy Code amendments, equitable distribution and property settlements are no longer dischargeable and, with very limited exceptions, cannot be reformed in a Chapter 13 plan.

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