What to do??????At wits end!

[Needsomerelief]

Ever feel you just want to give up

See if anyone has advice on this situation.

Wife has not been working, had to stop because of pregnancy, will not start back until beginning of the year and not sure she will have her job then.
All our bills are seperate except we are on the house together, and I cosigned for her vehicle. Nothing is behind except her unsecured CC that I have no part in, she owes about 25,000 and is about 5 months behind. Consulted a big name attorney that is well known in NC. I have been getting the run around, all the way to getting my house appraised, a copy of this and that, to, I can't help you. Here is the story.

I wanted to do a Chapter 7, the Chapter 13 payments were crazy, anyway, we qualified for the Chapter 7 income wise with no problem. We have about 10,000 more equity in the house than the exemptions allow, so I suggested Tenancy by entirety, and just letting her file since all my stuff is caught up without a problem and that way the house should be protected. Gave the lawyer a copy of the deed from 2002. My wife's father had deeded the land to my wife in February 2002, well we decided to build a house in July 2002 and the lawyer put the deed in both of our names, her father has lifetime rights to the property also. We both had excellent credit and obtained the mortgage loan in both of our names and the house was built. The lawyer has now said that he does not recommend a Chapter 7 because they can go back and reverse the transfer because it might look fraudulent, almost 5 years back????? He said it looks like she gave me half the land, well, we have been married for 14 years and wanted to build a house, so why shouldn't she? He said with the new law they can go 10 years back. I argue that everything is legit, how could I plan my bankruptcy for 5 years, build a house and have excellent credit then, if thats the case, I would have made sure I didn't have much equity in it.............. The hot shot lawyer seems for some reason does not want to deal with my case and I have since been talking with another.

Can things be so frustrating, I have been playing back and forth with the paralegal on this for 3 months, and even paid to have my house appraised $350 plus, because the lawyer recommended it, then came back to tell me the trustee might get a higher appraisal??? I have still not actually talked to the lawyer, just getting messages from the paralegal. I believe he's scared to test the tenancy by entirety, or for some reason my case is not simple like most they do, not so cut and dry, so they don't want to get involved and is pushing me off, since they do so many of these?

Just trying to help my wife during a hard time, guess she could always go for debt consolidation, but I can't afford to pay her bills and I don't think she could afford that? So on to the next attorney to see if things will get better!
Totally lost here in N.C.

[BassBoy]

As many here will most likely say, and myself included, is that $25K is not a large sum to go bankrupt on. What else we may say is that if you do a Ch.7 today for this amount, and if some life altering tragedy arises, you won't be able to file again (for so many years) and you'll be screwed. Credit counseling may be an option here. A HELOC should NOT BE an option. Is there another way to deal with the $25K without having to file Ch.7......other than filing Ch.13.

[Needsomerelief]

Thanks for the response.

Thats why she was going to file seperate, because I can't figure out another way for her to ever pay this money by herself and she doesn't need anymore credit of any kind

[lrprn]

Thanks for the response.

Thats why she was going to file seperate, because I can't figure out another way for her to ever pay this money by herself and she doesn't need anymore credit of any kind

I certainly wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but since the $25K of debt is relatively small for bankruptcy, your situation may be one that could benefit from a debt management plan. Just be sure to use a credit counseling agency in your area recommended by the Department of Justice at http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/ccde/cc_approved.htm

This Federal Trade Commission site does a good job of explaining all the options when you are struggling with debt - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/kneedeep.htm

Hope things are looking up for you and your wife very soon!

[Grace]

I have to say that I don't understand why you can't help pay your wife's debts. You've been married for 14 years. She's having your child. Why aren't you guys working together on this? If she files bankruptcy on her own, your income will be factored in. She can't claim she doesn't have any income and yet has a bunch of expenses.

[HHM]

I have to say that I don't understand why you can't help pay your wife's debts. You've been married for 14 years. She's having your child. Why aren't you guys working together on this? If she files bankruptcy on her own, your income will be factored in. She can't claim she doesn't have any income and yet has a bunch of expenses.

Despite tone, Grace has a point.

The timeline for fraudulent transfers is realistically only 2 years. After that, it gets pretty hard to prove fraud.

And I agree with what everyone else has said, $25K is a borderline amount of debt to be filing a chatper 7 over. Granted, if she is 5 months behind, the interest is a killer. I think you should look into credit counseling. (you have to go to a credit counseling course before you file anyway, so might as well see if they can help).

[SinkingFast]

I think you should look into credit counseling. (you have to go to a credit counseling course before you file anyway, so might as well see if they can help).

Ditto's to that statement!

That's what we did before we ever considered BK.

When we realized we were in too deep, we researched Credit Counseling and learned about the New Law rules. We learned there were DOJ approved agencies and decided to use one of them.

Lrprn gave you a link to the list. You should check them out and see what kind of plans might be available to assist you.

As a personal side comment,............

Thats why she was going to file seperate, because I can't figure out another way for her to ever pay this money by herself and she doesn't need anymore credit of any kind

So I gotta ask,.............. Why is this situation only your wife's responsibility to deal with??!! Why don't you pitch in and help too??!!

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

if you go to a DOJ approved Credit Counselor make sure you pay more than $50 bucks! And that would first step towards the process of BK if you really need to file!

Good Luck, Catchmeifyoucan

[Debtsarenogood]

[QUOTE=HHM;73561]Despite tone, Grace has a point.

The timeline for fraudulent transfers is realistically only 2 years. After that, it gets pretty hard to prove fraud.


I DISAGREE THE TRUSTEE UNDER SECTION 546 CAN USE THE STATE'S ADOPTED LOOKBACK PERIOD FOR FRAUDULENT TRANSFERS UNDER THE UFTA ACT. IN MY STATE THE STATE'S LOOKBACK PERIOD IS 5 YEARS. ...

[HHM]

[QUOTE=Debtsarenogood;74270]

Despite tone, Grace has a point.

The timeline for fraudulent transfers is realistically only 2 years. After that, it gets pretty hard to prove fraud.


I DISAGREE THE TRUSTEE UNDER SECTION 546 CAN USE THE STATE'S ADOPTED LOOKBACK PERIOD FOR FRAUDULENT TRANSFERS UNDER THE UFTA ACT. IN MY STATE THE STATE'S LOOKBACK PERIOD IS 5 YEARS. ...

True, they can look back that far, but there are other elements to fraud, namely, in the BK context, the transfer has to be done with the intent to defraud creditors. That particular element gets pretty hard to prove the futher back you go, especially if, at the time of the transfer, you weren't under any significant financial stress. So, in the usually consumer circumstance, any transfer more than a year old is probably going to be safe as it will be hard to prove intent.

[Debtsarenogood]

[QUOTE=HHM;74272]

True, they can look back that far, but there are other elements to fraud, namely, in the BK context, the transfer has to be done with the intent to defraud creditors. That particular element gets pretty hard to prove the futher back you go, especially if, at the time of the transfer, you weren't under any significant financial stress. So, in the usually consumer circumstance, any transfer more than a year old is probably going to be safe as it will be hard to prove intent.

Sure it might be harder to prove the further you go back, but that doesn't mean it cannot be proved. In addition the the time element is not as relevent whereas the actual transaction is. If someone transferred a property to their buddy for a de mininimum amount , the fact that it was 3 years ago does not necessarily make it harder from proving it was a fraudulent transfer Furthermore it doesn't have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. If any real estate has been transferred in the past few years (even more than 2 years), it will be scruntizied, especially if proceeds were disbursed.