Joint Student Loan Question

[wnlbutterfly]

I have an email friend. She said she is having problems with a Joint student loan going into default. When she was married they consolidated the loans. Now she is divorced and he is refusing to pay his share of the loan and they are going into default. I would think there would be something that could be done because I could see this happening a LOT!

The sad thing is she is trying to put her first child through college, and trying to go to college herself. She isn't going to be able to get any more aid (I don't know about grants), and she won't be able to sign for any student loans for her daughter with a default on her record. I am pretty sure they are both getting student loans.

She is very low income, so she should qualify for the IBR (income base payment) but getting the ex to fill out and sign papers might not be something that can be done.

Any suggestions I could pass along??

She also mentioned this ex keeps claiming the child that she is suppose to claim (for the past 3 yrs) so she has to jump through hoops to get her refund (send all the paperwork why she is the one that should be claiming). Of course that won't matter if she has a default, but just shows what type she is dealing with.

[JoshuaHeckathorn]

If they're defaulting on the loan, it's certainly in his interest to sign a few papers so they can qualify for IBR.

Maybe she can try to get him to agree to sign the paperwork in return for her making all future payments. That's not fair, of course, but it might be better than getting no cooperation at all.

I don't really see another option out there that's better than what IBR offers.