Time between filing divorce paper and final divorce hearing my ex-wife did not pay her bills (her name only),?

Question

will I have to pay them in order to keep from getting my credit ruined?
Last night a collection agency call my work asking for me but I was gone so the owner(talk about embarasing) left me a note to call them today, which I did. The collection agent told me that since I live in WI which is a joint propery state I am responcible for the bill too and that they already posted it on my credit(without even consulting me before hand) and that if I wanted it removed I would have to pay them. I payed them immediatly. It was for her apartments electric bill and for a doctor bill neither of which I signed for or had any knowledge of until today. I have three questions: 1. Did they pull a fast one on me and trick me in to paying her bills? 2. May I sue her to recover the the money I am now out since when we filed for divorce I distinctly remember the lawer telling us that one of the papers we signed stated that from that moment on we were responcble for our own finances his example was

that if one of us purchased a new car the other would not be responcible for paying for any of it? 3- Was it wrong of the collection agency to report that on my credit without even attempting to contact me first? I asked the agent who took my phone call why they did not call me before reporting it and she it was because we are divorced and that she did not have my address, which was not entirly true since they had my address listed as a previous address for my ex. I bought my ex out of the house we owned together. The agent admitted that they knew as much since my ex stated that we were divorced and did not want them to call me about her bills. Truth be told I enjoy laughing at her financial failure but do not gossip about it with anyone other than both her mom and my mom since I do not want to be percived as bitter. Back to question number 3, may I report them to anyone for posting it on my credit and may I sue them for defamation or something like that since they did not

contact me before posting it on my credit. I paid the bill within 24 hours of them calling my work and within 4 hours of first seeing the message from my boss, I would have called them earlier but wanted to wait for them to open up. I will be calling a lawer on my lunch hour tommarow but want to see if anyone has any experance simular to this or has knowledge of the law and can tell me what to expect. I always choose a best answer so anyone who helps me stands a good chance at an easy ten points. Thank you in advacne for any and all of the help you will provide me.

Here is the timeline of what occured.
Oct. 2006 we seperated. We prepaid a six month lease for her in order to be seperated and see how things would go.
Dec. 2006 we filed the paperwork for a divorce
Feb 2007 is the month both debts that I paid today were occured in. One is a $30 something electric bill and the other was a $80 something doctor bill.
May 2007 our divorce was finalized.
Sept 10 2007 the collection agency reported her debts to both of our reports.
Sept 25 2007 The collection agency called my work after hours and spoke with my boss. This was thier first attempt to contact me and they told me that today
Sept 26 2007 I returned their phone call and paid the bills.
I have recieved parking tickets which I paid previosly, that continued until I had the DMV revoke the plate number and the car was towed. May I get reemberced for those also? I have also gotten phone calls from Discover Card and a check advance place but when I told them we were divorced they droped it

Answer 1

If it is a community property state, that's a sticky one. If the debts were created after separation theoretically she should be responsible for them. Some states may consider the filing date the separation date and some the date of the divorce.

If you pay the bills you can go back and sue her for them. Your attorney may be able to get them incorporated into the divorce, depending on how far along the process is....