What are my options at this juncture....Questions

[planted]

We cannot get any refinancing like the trustee expects us to do in order to pay the final discharge amount of $38 k. Supposed to be 2 yrs payments less than that at $26 k

At the end of this mo. is the full 60 mos. of a bk 13. The trustee and our attorney were talking about this, the trustee said he would accept an offer of at least $7500.

We came up with the money from a private party since banks won't even talk with us. Now that the cashiers check is in our attorney's hands the trustee decided not to accept the offer and has made a motion to dismiss. Wow!

Should I convert to a 7 but can we still keep our home? We need/love this home and don't care that it has negative balance owing on it. Remember, Part of it is for the business and cannot function without this place with the land use laws elsewhere.


Should I take my business, which barely pays the bills now a days and incorporate? Are there any emergency benefits there?

Sometimes I wonder if these trustees are human. We have suffered so much to pay 60 mos of $500 ea. month. My teeth are rotting, we had to cancel out medical insurance after 30 yrs just for fuel (still owe a few fuel cards) and we are approaching the latter portion of our lives since we are approaching 60 yrs of age.

Please help, anyone? We need to be able to breath some and stop this oppressive situation. Going on 5 yrs. now

I need to stay in my Business since it would be tough to get any better job with bad credit. My customers like me but, folks say things are going to slow even worse. I can see it coming too. You know the trustee will not even amend the 13 agreement even when the econ slowed down drastically! We tried that when the phone stopped ringing in the winter of 2008. It did not help... this is why i say we have suffered enough already and the trustee is not human.

[despritfreya]

Most of your questions were answered in an early thread and, as pointed out, it was unlikely that a Trustee could take less than what was required to be paid when you filed. As a result, I am not surprised that the "settlement" did not materialize. The Trustee might have though taking less would be ok until he spoke to the auditors and/or his boss, the US Trustee:

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?66748-Almost-done....-please-help-with-what-to-do

As to the business, since I do not know what it is or what kind of assets it has I cannot respond. I can say that until you decide what to do with the bk you should leave the business in whatever form it is right now. You need to sit down with your attorney and go through your options, which appears to be either convert or let the case get dismissed.

Des.

[planted]

Thanks Des, How can they call for a hearing and then it says 'No Testimony allowed'. Aren't the trustees concerned/interested with the individuals situations?

My business (Construction) is not going to hold up for a lot longer unless things improve. Yet they will not do an amended 13 even though the situation (econ was in so much better condition) has drastically changed since the 13 was filed almost 5 yrs ago. I am fortunate to have been busy so far.

Has anyone gotten an amended return based on their economic case changing? Has anyone ever gotten a discharge paying a reduced final amount due to the banks putting a lock on almost all bk 13 refi's?

Has anyone ever been able to keep their home in a chapter 7? I have heard of that once, but, how?

Another option is to roll over into another bk 13. Last resort because in a bad situation, worse economy, if I ever need to close the doors on Business, Ill need to sell the home before being foreclosed on. In a 13 you cannot sell your home to pay the trustee. It's a catch 22 and not a good place to be. It'a all too weird... if you want to pay them you can't. Almost like being destined to fail. It's just so awful at my age.

Some of my situation was my spending in the 90's but most it was that I did not sue some clients (3 in one yr hurt us the most) over some fairly large sums of money/ contracts. They were not honorable people and now we found out the very hardest way.

[LadyInTheRed]

Thanks Des, How can they call for a hearing and then it says 'No Testimony allowed'. Aren't the trustees concerned/interested with the individuals situations?

The court probably requires that all arguments be in the form of written briefs filed before the hearing. The trustees may be interested in individual situations. In fact, it sounds like you have a trustee who is willing to work with you. But the trustee has to follow the law and is working for the creditors, not you. The law is that if you had non-exempt assets on the day you filed a 13 and you want to keep those assets, you have to pay at least the non-exempt value of those assets to unsecured creditors. The value is based on the date you filed.

It sounds like the amount you have to pay is set based on the non exempt assets you are keeping and perhaps remaining tax debt. Assuming that is the case, those numbers are not flexible, regardless of the drop of value in assets since filing. You are not going to get a discharge without paying the unsecured creditors at least what they would have received if you filed a Chapter 7 5 years ago.

Stop grasping at the hope of getting your Chap 13 discharged based on a reduced payment. Unless there are details we are missing, it's not going to happen. Unless you have no unsecured non priority debt, another 13 doesn't sound like a good option if you can convert to a 7. Sit down with your attorney and go over your situation as it is now, based on the current value of your assets and your current income. Have him explain what would happen if you converted to a Chap 7.

Has anyone ever been able to keep their home in a chapter 7? I have heard of that once, but, how?

People keep their homes in a Chap 7 all the time. You just have to be current on the mortgage payments at the time of filing and, if there is non-exempt equity, you may need to buy the non-exempt portion from the trustee. But you say your house is now underwater. If you convert to a Chap 7, you would use the value of your home on the date of conversion. So, if you have no equity, you would be able to keep your home as long as your mortgage payments are current.

You may not be able to keep your motor home or your truck in a 7. Or you may have to buy their non exempt equity from the trustee. You really should consider letting go of these items if you have to. They can be replaced.

[planted]

Thanks Lady in The Red, good information. The reduced amount of $7500 was arrived by the trustee. It is the minimum to be paid for a workable discharge. However, as said before, he's changed his mind for reasons or other issues.

I will report back, if I can help others in similar situations that's great.