My husband is a co-signer on a car for a friend. The friend was in an accident and didn't have insurance on the car. Since there was so insurance on the car the insurance company is trying to re-claim the moneis from the acciedent. The law firm assisgned to this case has not been successful in contacting the driver (my husbands friends) so they are coming after my husband. Now there is a request for judgment on my husband and while the driver of the car (my husabnds friend) is willing to take responsibility for this they are still threatening to make my husband pay for this. What kind of laywer do we contact to clear this up?

Thanks!:confused: :mad: :eek:

Hello em:

I'm not sure what you're trying to clear up. If the friend doesn't pay for the accident, your husband WILL. PLUS, if your friend doesn't pay off the LOAN for the car, your husband WILL.

There is NO lawyer that you can find that will stop that from happening.

excon

PS> It appears your friend is willing to SAY that he accepts responsibility, but if he REALLY means it, he'd whip out his checkbook and save your husband. But, he isn't doing that, is he?

Something doesn't make sense here. I don't see why the insurance company is trying to recover any money if the car owner had no insurance. Nor should your husband be liable for that.

So I suspect you are confused here. What is probably happening is the LENDER for the car loan is looking for the balance owed on the loan. The fact the car was totaled is not a concern for them. Normally, the car insurance would have paid off the balance, but since there was no insurance, then the loan wasn't paid off.

Like excon, I wonder what you think can be cleared up. Your husband co-signed the loan. That means that he is just as responsible for the loan as the friend. If the friend doesn't pay, then the lender has every right to go after your husband. No lawyer will get you past that.

So your husband has no choice if he wants to preserve his credit and avoid a judgement. He needs to at least bring the car loan up to date and keep it that way. If his friend is truly willing to take the responsibility, then he would be keeping the loan up to date. Your husband's only other recourse, once the loan is brought up to date, is to sue the friend to recover the monies he's laid out. Depending on the amount that could be done in small claims court.

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Originally Posted by emmapie04

My husband is a co-signer on a car for a friend. The friend was in an accident and didnt have insurance on the car. Since there was so insurance on the car the insurance company is trying to re-claim the moneis from the acciedent. The law firm assisgned to this case has not been sucessful in contacting the driver (my husbands friends) so they are comming after my husband. Now there is a request for judgment on my husband and while the driver of the car (my husabnds friend) is willing to take responsibility for this they are still threatening to make my husband pay for this. What kind of laywer do we contact to clear this up?

thanks!:confused: :mad: :eek:

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I'm VERY confused here - your husband has no responsibility for damages in the accident unless his name is on the Title which makes him co-owner of the car. I don't understand why the insurance company is looking to your husband for money - ?

Did the Bank/lending institution require insurance and none was carried? Is the bank/lending institution looking to your husband for the balance on the debt? If it's the latter and he co-signed, he's responsible.

There's a lesson here about co-signing but I'm sure you already know what it is!

Perhaps was there another vehicle involved and it is their insurance company that is suing for damages? Just like the other posters said, what recourses you have would depend on if your husband only co-signed the loan or if he was considered a part owner of the car, meaning his name was on title as well.

If he was on title and there was a wreck and another vehicle was involved, that person's insurance company (assuming they had insurance) would pay for their client's vehicle damages but then sue the legal owner of the other car(your husband and/or his friend) for the money they paid out.

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The law firm assisgned to this case has not been successful in contacting the driver (my husbands friends) so they are coming after my husband. Now there is a request for judgment on my husband and while the driver of the car (my husabnds friend) is willing to take responsibility for this

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If the law firm could not contact the driver, then why hasn't he contacted them if he is willing to take the responsibility?

I make sure that the friend is in court with me when I appeared over the judgement.