Hello,
Apologies for the long post but am hopeful someone has some insight . . .
My wife & I live in Arizona & have no unsecured debt (i.e. no credit card debt). Our only debt is 1) primary residence mortgage & a car lease - which we want to keep & 2) mortgage debt on 3 investment properties (we want to give back). My wife & are both on all mortgages except one property - in which she is on the mortgage alone (titled as separate property).
2 of our invesment properties are with a TX builder who filed bankruptcy (while allegedly stealing millions and leaving our homes with liens). We are now stuck with unfinished homes that are worth less than their mortgages. We are 2 months late on the investment homes. A BK attorney told us we qualify for Ch. 7 based on the large mortgages owed, but the trustee will likely force us to Ch 13 because once the mortgages are discharged we won't have any debt and we earn above the state median income level.
From this forum, it looks like we may be able to file Chapter 7 without doing a means test (as the business debt of our investment property mortgages far exceeds that of our consumer debt/our primary residence).
Yesterday another attorney said my wife should be able to file alone & as AZ is a community property state, the mortgages would all be discharged under her bankruptcy so I would not have to file (and slightly preserve my credit). Thus, my ideal scenario would be for my wife to file Ch. 7 as business debt (since the mortgage balances on the investment homes is significantly greater than our primary residence mortgage) and the investment mortgages to go away.
Is anyone familiar with community property law & does the above scenario of my wife's filing separately and thereby discharging all the investment property sound realistic? Or, will I likely have to file as well?
Thanks,
Jon
Apologies for the long post but am hopeful someone has some insight . . .
My wife & I live in Arizona & have no unsecured debt (i.e. no credit card debt). Our only debt is 1) primary residence mortgage & a car lease - which we want to keep & 2) mortgage debt on 3 investment properties (we want to give back). My wife & are both on all mortgages except one property - in which she is on the mortgage alone (titled as separate property).
2 of our invesment properties are with a TX builder who filed bankruptcy (while allegedly stealing millions and leaving our homes with liens). We are now stuck with unfinished homes that are worth less than their mortgages. We are 2 months late on the investment homes. A BK attorney told us we qualify for Ch. 7 based on the large mortgages owed, but the trustee will likely force us to Ch 13 because once the mortgages are discharged we won't have any debt and we earn above the state median income level.
From this forum, it looks like we may be able to file Chapter 7 without doing a means test (as the business debt of our investment property mortgages far exceeds that of our consumer debt/our primary residence).
Yesterday another attorney said my wife should be able to file alone & as AZ is a community property state, the mortgages would all be discharged under her bankruptcy so I would not have to file (and slightly preserve my credit). Thus, my ideal scenario would be for my wife to file Ch. 7 as business debt (since the mortgage balances on the investment homes is significantly greater than our primary residence mortgage) and the investment mortgages to go away.
Is anyone familiar with community property law & does the above scenario of my wife's filing separately and thereby discharging all the investment property sound realistic? Or, will I likely have to file as well?
Thanks,
Jon