IRS filing Q's for married couples

[txhelp]

History
Situation: Husband and I are both teachers. I am almost finished with masters in admin and will gross (before anything comes out) about 92,000 this year. The main reason for us considering BK is that our home was recently "trashed" by renters and there is no way we can afford to repair it. This is after we have been paying on it while it was empty for over 2 years - we moved because of new coaching job for husband.

Debt:
Student loans 135,000 (direct federal, recently consolidated for IBR & forgiveness option)
home 42,000 (don't want to keep)
vehicles (2) 8,000
credit cards 15,000
We rent a home where we teach 600 mth.
5,000 or so in medical and utility bills

We have been paying on my husbands loans (32,000) regularly for about 5 years and have only paid a handful of payments on mine (105,000) because of finances and I was out of deferments & forbearances (borrowed from parents to pay those)

We are aware of the new forgiveness laws for teachers and they probably won't help much because of our combined income.

Here is my question. Would we benefit from filing married separately for repayment on student loans? I have no idea about the advantages/disadvantages when filing that way. I would appreciate any suggestions from people with knowledge or experience in this area!

[Flamingo]

I have one question...you state your home was "trashed" by renters and that is the main reason you are filing due to the cost of repairs. Don't you have insurance on the that house to cover those damages?

With your high income if you let the house go and your low debt it doesn't appear you are insolvent and may not be able to file. It seems all your debt is student loan related. Student loans, as you know, are nondischargeable and if you fall under any forgiveness program that would just benefit you as to lessening that burden. If all or any of your debt, mortgage, etc. is in joint names you will have to file jointly. I am sure your student loans are in your individual names only. It would probably benefit you best to get a few consultations with several BK attorneys in your state/area to find out if you can actually file bankruptcy.

[txhelp]

The house is the main reason, however we do have other debt (credit cards, medical) that is about 20K, and auto loans about 10k. According to our insurance agent and realtor, there is no coverage for "trashing" a rent home. We basically expended our savings paying for our mort. & our rent house for over 2 years while we were trying to sell it.
Thanks for the advice. I am currently setting up appt. with lawyers to get several opinions on what our options are.

[Flamingo]

txhelp - this thread was moved from the General Bankruptcy forum since it is really Student Loan related; also, you posted yesterday a very similar posting in the General Bankruptcy forum. Please refrain from making duplicate postings in several forums as it confuses posters who wish to reply. I left this thread in place because of your tax questions and student loan issues.

[lovebirds]

If you want your student loan payment to be income-sensitive to your low-income, you should file separately. Otherwise your income will be counted with hubby and your payment will be huge.