Selling home during Chapter 7

[brokenojoke]

My husband and I are filing for Chapter 7. My sister would like to buy our home for what we owe. Can we do that without them coming after the house?

[EdytaHome]

Yes you can. You will have to motion the court to sell the property before your discharge. My lawyer did this for me for an extra $175 but it wasn't easy, he didn't really want to do it and I called him a million times. You will have to provide the court with the sales contract, independent brokers sale appraisal, and you'll have to clear the sale with the mortgage company. They can also object to the motion, there is a waiting period.
I did this for one of my houses, now if I had to do it over again I would just wait until after discharge. There is a lot of paperwork and waiting involved. I ended up selling the house 3 weeks before discharge. If I would have gotten everything straight, I could have just negotiated with the mortgage company after they got the "relief from automatic stay" and set the closing up for right after discharge. This may be easier for you too.
Do you have equity in the house? If so, no matter what you'll have to let the court about it. You can't just sell the property for the amount of your loan, unless that's all that it's worth. Be careful! Good luck!
If you specify in your bk that you will be surrendering or selling the property, they will for sure look up the deed and look at your taxes to see how much it's worth.

[HHM]

Just wait until after discharge, it will be much simpler.