New to this.. please help..

[brandy100973]

I just talked with a lawyer today and I want to file chapter 7 and keep my house. He said that if my house is appraised any over what I bought it for, then they will come after my house. I guess my question is why if the house is say only worth 5 or 10 thousand over what we paid for it. It is also in my husbands name and he is not on the bankruptcy. Can they still take my house? I have not missed any payments.

[MSbklawyer]

Which state are you in, Brandy?

How much is your house worth?

[brandy100973]

I live in virginia and the apprasial i had done in oct said 265000 n i paid 259700J

[r00257]

Hi brandy. Im in the process of Chpt. 7 and possibly converting to 13 depending on what the US trustee pushes for. We have 120K in unsecured debt. regarding going after the home... Our home we bought for 217K and owe 189K. When we bought it 2.5 years ago it was appraised for $224K. With the cost of homes and the market value declining also being saturated with foreclosures. our attorney stated that the trustee would not go after the house. Well he didn't go after the house and actually closed the estate stating there is nothing there to recoup. Its the US trustee on our case that is looking at our 401K loans. Another story, another time. Maybe you could get another opinion. We went through two other b4 finding this one. One other one was a high volume, "meat processing" firm... They didn't want any snags and told us 13 was our only option at the preliminary meeting. He was also going to charge us $3300 for the 13 (standard) - the payment is taken off the top of what you would pay back in a 13.

the one constant that I heard was the gray area when a spouse files and the other one doesn't. They will go after him as well presuming he should pay half the debt. I Guess it all depends on what the debts are and who benefited from them. Maybe if the debts were charged before your marriage, that may benefit your husband. please note as a guy at work found out, once you file you can not take it back. He wishes he would had called on on of the credit consolidators. I can't speak about them though.

So far i am happy with our attorney, he has been doing BKs exclusively for over 30 years and is with a reputable law firm. he suggested the Chpt. 7 and we could always convert to 13 if need be. there has been several "snags" he has argued and won for us. I feel very confident in his abilities. It cost us a one time $1100 to file with him, again pretty much standard for Chpt. 7.

just a final note. I too am new this forum and the members on here are great! they have such great advice and information. I honestly can't put a price on their wisdom and compassion.

It's what i needed!

Cheers.

-Don

[brandy100973]

Thanks for the replys.. My husband and I just got married in Oct on the 4th and settled on the house on the 10th of Oct. all my debt is credit card debt, about 65,000. In November I was laid off my job of 7 years and had to get a new job, started it in Jan and had to take a pay cut. I just cannot do it anymore, trying to pay all these credit cards but I want to keep my house. It is to the point where I am having panic attacks surrounding the situation and then after talking with the lawyer today, I was freaking out.

He wants me to get an apprasial but that costs money and I just dont have the money to do it.. I am going to try to find someone hopefully that will do it for cheap. My biggest worry is I am going to loose my house and if I dont file bankruptcy I the bank is going to garnish my wages and I will stil loose the house. I really feel like I am in a no win situation.

I will call other bankruptcy lawyers tommorow and see if I can get another opinion as you suggested..

Wish me luckkkk.. I need it at this point..

[justplaintired]

Brandy my best advice talk to another attorney. Right now you are borderline for Virginia exemptions on your home anyway.

If an attorney had told me that taking my house when my equity is so close to the exemption my state allowed and my dh had his name on the deed, I definitely would have gotten a "second" opinion. If ever attorney tells you the same thing, then you'll know what to do.

[justplaintired]

Thanks for the replys.. My husband and I just got married in Oct on the 4th and settled on the house on the 10th of Oct. all my debt is credit card debt, about 65,000. In November I was laid off my job of 7 years and had to get a new job, started it in Jan and had to take a pay cut. I just cannot do it anymore, trying to pay all these credit cards but I want to keep my house. It is to the point where I am having panic attacks surrounding the situation and then after talking with the lawyer today, I was freaking out.

He wants me to get an apprasial but that costs money and I just dont have the money to do it.. I am going to try to find someone hopefully that will do it for cheap. My biggest worry is I am going to loose my house and if I dont file bankruptcy I the bank is going to garnish my wages and I will stil loose the house. I really feel like I am in a no win situation.

I will call other bankruptcy lawyers tommorow and see if I can get another opinion as you suggested..

Wish me luckkkk.. I need it at this point..

Good luck Brandy and don't give up, I am unsure since your dh has his name on the deed how that works. Here if we hadn't filed together the house would have been protected for the one not filing. We are keeping our house too and that was majorly important to us.

[OhioFiler]

Virginia is not a community property state. I'm not sure what her ownership position on the house is so it's not possible to answer her completely.

I do know that what one paid for the house and what it is currently worth are not to be compared for bk purposes. The actual comparison is between current value and amout owed on the mortgage. Also, in Virginia there is a $5,000 homestead exemption.