Please Help!

[Alone]

My husband and I are going to file Chapter 13 and I had a question. I have an ATV that is paid for and a boat that is not. I do know that the boat will have to be sold or will need to be paid for in the plan but what about the ATV that is paid for? Can they take it and sell it? Will it effect my payment at all? Please Help!!!

[MSbklawyer]

My husband and I are going to file Chapter 13 and I had a question. I have an ATV that is paid for and a boat that is not. I do know that the boat will have to be sold or will need to be paid for in the plan but what about the ATV that is paid for? Can they take it and sell it? Will it effect my payment at all? Please Help!!!

What state are you in? Is there an exemption that you could use to cover the ATV? If so, you keep it. However, in a 13, even if it's not exempt you can still keep it by paying its equivalent value in cash through your plan.

Are you lawyered or pro se?

[Alone]

I am in Louisiana. So enev if I don't owe on it it will effect me in some way?

[Alone]

What state are you in? Is there an exemption that you could use to cover the ATV? If so, you keep it. However, in a 13, even if it's not exempt you can still keep it by paying its equivalent value in cash through your plan.

Are you lawyered or pro se?

I am in Louisiana. So it can effect my payments?

[MSbklawyer]

I am in Louisiana. So enev if I don't owe on it it will effect me in some way?

It depends. I don't know what Louisiana's exemption statues are. If you (A)don't owe anything on it AND (B) can fit it into an exemption statute, you keep it. Free. If you can't fit it into an exemption statute, you have to pay its equivalent cash value into the plan in order to keep it.

[Alone]

It depends. I don't know what Louisiana's exemption statues are. If you (A)don't owe anything on it AND (B) can fit it into an exemption statute, you keep it. Free. If you can't fit it into an exemption statute, you have to pay its equivalent cash value into the plan in order to keep it.

It is worth about $4000.00 so I need to pay at least that amount to creditors are that extra to them. I am not understanding completely about paying equivalent cash value.

[fooked]

if it would sell at an auction for $4k, then that's what you would pay on... UNLESS your state has an exemption for that amount...

[MSbklawyer]

It is worth about $4000.00 so I need to pay at least that amount to creditors are that extra to them. I am not understanding completely about paying equivalent cash value.

Yes, assuming it's not exemptable, you will have to pay $4000 into your plan over the three to five years. This amount will be distributed to your unsecured creditors pro rata. That is, if you want to keep it.

If you don't want to keep it, the trustee will sell it and get ~ $4000 for it and distribute it the same way.

Are you filing with a lawyer or by yourself?

[Alone]

I have a lawyer. The only mentioned item was the boat because we owed on it. It brought our payment up 800.00 for 5 years. so we decided to sell it. Now my payment is expected to be $800.00 a month but I don't know if the ATV is factored in and if not how much more the payment will be. I haven't ever filed yet and this is a nightmare! All the online info about filing 13 and keeping your property is crap. I don't see a way out of this mess.

[Alone]

Will I have to sell my child's things witch include a small ATV? Also paid for.

[Alone]

Assets and Chapter13

We live in Louisiana.We are speaking to a lawyer about chapter 13.I have 2 ATV's , one for my 5yr old and one for my husband that are paid off. Does anyone know if they will take these or what kind of action will be taken? I have 65,000 in only unsecured debt. They are not used againist any loans.

[forgotten]

Looks like your state does not have many exemptions.
If you want to keep the ATV's you will need to pay back in your plan at least what they are worth (plus any other non-exempt property you may have).

It comes down to what your your DMI is and how much they are worth.

Example - If the total value of your non-exempt property is $10k, you will need to pay back at least that much over the course of your plan.

[Alone]

Just trying to understand this completly. If I owe 65,000 in unsecured debt and I pay 30,000 of that and they are worth 10,000 I can keep them? Are do I have to pay 100%(65k) of the debt to keep them? Does this somehow effect the amount I will have to pay every month?

[lrprn]

Alone, the bottom line here is that when you file Ch 13, you can keep items that can be completely protected by your Louisiana bankruptcy exemptions. The boat and ATV are secured assets so if the value of one or both cannot be protected by your LA exemptions, you have to decide whether you want to keep one or both or surrender one or both when you file.

You didn't say if your child's ATV is completely paid for or do you still owe money on it?

If you decide you want to keep both the boat and ATV, then your trustee will decide if it's worth the hassle to file an objection, get permission to take the items for sale, and sell them for what he/she can get. That money goes back into your Ch 13 'pot' (with a small cut for your trustee) to pay your creditors.

If you decide to surrender the boat, the ATV, or both, if they are worth enough, as already mentioned your trustee can take the items and sell them for what he/she can get. That money goes back into your Ch 13 pot (again with a small cut for your trustee) too.

HOWEVER, sometimes even when assets are not covered completely by exemptions, the trustee may decide it's just not worth the trouble to take them and try to sell them. This is especially true for older items that just don't have a good resale value.

When we filed, we had a paid-for small fishing boat and pop-up camper that were more than five years old. Neither item was covered completely by our state exemptions. The combined value at filing was $3K. Our lawyer told us that he didn't think the trustee would ask for them because they were just too much hassle to sell and the dollar return would be too small, so we surrendered them at filing. Three years later, we still have the boat and pop-up. Our trustee has expressed no interest in them whatsoever. We still have them and if our trustee does ask for them, we'll hand him the keys. But our lawyer says that we are likely to still have our boat and pop-up camper when we are discharged

Ask your lawyer what your trustee does in situations when assets are not protected by your LA exemptions. It's the only way to have a reliable idea about what to expect will happen to your ATV and boat if you file.

[UpsideDownMI]

Yes you could keep them (assuming the 30k is going to your unsecured creditors) as long as the value of any other non exempt property you wish to keep plus the value of the atv's does not exceed what your unsecured creditors would receive in your plan.

Basically the deciding factor on what non exempt property you could keep in a chapter 13 is based on what your unsecured creditors would receive if you filed a chapter 7. That being said, if you filed a chapter 7 your atv's would be sold, and your unsecured creditors would receive the proceeds from the sale minus the trustee's fee. So in a chapter 13 your unsecured creditors would need to be paid the value of the atv's. The same rule applies if you have any other non exempt property that you wish to keep.