About to file Chapter 7 petition and my MIL has died

[cdmosaic]

Hi all, I just reviewed my Chp 7 petition with my attorney yesterday and am getting ready to file and now my mother-in-law passed away last night unexpectedly. I'm filing Chapter 7 alone, my spouse is not filing and we have very few assets that aren't covered under an exemption. My total debt is around $180k and my spouse will inherit around $150k. My question is, since this is her inheritance, isn't money in our joint or personal bank accounts yet, does this money get included as a joint asset? If so, I can't go forward with a Chapter 7 filing, I guess I'd have to convert to Chapter 13.

[justbroke]

We don't know where you live so don't know if it's a community property state. Assuming it is not, then you could file alone an the inheritance, since it's not the filing debtor's property, would not be the property of the bankruptcy estate. It would not be marital property.

I can't give you a definitive answer. You will need to look at the inheritance and make sure that none of it was given to you by bequest, devise, or through inheritance. I would certainly let my bankruptcy attorney know about this inheritance, and they'll have to look at the paperwork (will, insurance policy, etc.).