I have a potentially SERIOUS problem... Need Advice!

[Xar77]

Ok... here's the situation... We had our 341 meeting on the 9th of November... My Mother-in-law who just came to visit us informed us the other day that a small 1 acre property in New Mexico got changed to a 5-way ownership with my wife's cousins and herself a while back (WE didn't know ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!!!). So now we are finding out that her name is associated with 1/5 of an acre in New Mexico worth probably 2-3k. We didn't know this at all and the 341 meeting has already passed. What can we do about this??? should we tell our lawyer??? Will this cause our BK to be thrown out??? PLEASE HELP!!!

[AAAArt]

You are supposed to notify the Trustee of any major changes after your 341. Is a 1/5 ownership in one acre which you cannot sell w/out the permission of the other 5 a MAJOR change?
Legally and technically, you're prob supposed to tell them. But realize how overworked these "poor" Trustees are right now. Do you really want to burden them with more work?
Personally, everything I know about what I can and can't do, I learned from this forum and other research. I don't remember the court EVER sending me any list of rules to follow.
This is not legal advice. Legally, I guess, we are supposed to tell them everything, but where does common sense enter in? If you find a penny on the sidewalk, do you report it...a $20 bill...a sack that fell off of the Brinks truck with $3 million dollars in it and they said you could keep it as a reward.
The first and last are pretty clear. Everything is somewhere in between.

[Xar77]

I guess I just worry that if the Trustee finds the Property that he'll dismiss our case right away... I dunno... Just worried now...

I see your point, should I even bring it up with my lawyer though?

[bkfiler]

"Legally and technically, you're prob supposed to tell them. But realize how overworked these "poor" Trustees are right now. Do you really want to burden them with more work?"

art, hehe im gonna buy you a beer lol

[StaciMM]

Let your attorney earn his fee. Discuss this w/ the attorney, see what he says. There might be a way to exempt it.

Worst case scenario, the BK trustee could find out about it, and start digging for what else you're hiding. (I'm not saying that you are, but that would be a likely conclusion.)

[Xar77]

well we MOST DEFINATELY are not hiding anything else! Ok, I think I'll call my attorney this afternoon....

[Xar77]

Ok... after talking with the relatives that also own a piece... here's the actual breakdown...

1.6 acres... my wife has a third of the property and her portion is supposedly worth $16,000

How would that work? if we added the property now AFTER the 341 meeting would they take the whole thing? or just her portion? or make us pay for just her portion??? Can you exempt it if no one is living on it?

[StaciMM]

Whether or not it could be exempted depends on your state and whether or not you have a wild card that could apply to it. If you don't own your home and filed using federal exemptions (and haven't already used the wild card) you're probably ok. (But I don't know if there are restrictions on using the wild card.)

If the trustee took it, he'd have a couple of options. Allow the owners of the 2/3 portion to buy her 1/3 out, or he might be able to sell it directly. Probably depends on how the ownership is setup. (Can her part be sold separately from the other 2?) Or, possibly he'd accept payments on anything you can't exempt. The only problem I see with that is I think they like it resolved within a year or so, and if you could afford to pay back $16,000 in a year you wouldn't have filed BK.

Out of curiosity-who is paying the property taxes & how is the ownership setup? If they are joint owners on 1 piece of land, that probably makes things more complicated than if each party owns a distinct piece of the total property. The more complicated it is, the less likely that the trustee will bother.

[Xar77]

It is a joint partnership, no individual as a single particular 1/3 of the property. The TOTAL property is 2.5 acres... 1 acre was transferred to C (abbreviates for names)... the other 1.5 was put in N, S, and A's (my wife) names. C pays the taxes for both sets of properties with N helping him. We didn't even know about it or were ever approached for taxes. The deed states N, S, and A all control 1/3 interest in the 1.5 acres...

Lawyer said it might be complicated for the Trustee to go after too

[quest42]

Possible outcomes...

1. The trustee will ask the other owners to buy you out at some negotiated amount?

2. The trustee will consider it too much work to get involved and will settle for a pittance?

3. Can the trustee just let it go by the wayside, since it may be a lot of work to liquidate?

Let us know what the attorney says and what happens when you approach the trustee with the info...

[Xar77]

Yikes

Still working with the lawyer on this one... Unfortunately there are now Added fees of at least $200.00. If we send an amendment in with this new information will there have to be another 341 meeting??? and will everything still be considered under the old law (because we filed BEFORE the mid october date)... I'm so worried about all of this ANYONE ever have this happen before??? (not likely.... property in your name that you don't know about).

Shaun

[wednesday]

In my state (North Carolina) property that is owned jointly with someone else who is not part of the bankruptcy, is exempt. The other party is considered to have more of a right to the value of the property than the BK filer's creditors. That is my understanding anyway.

[Xar77]

Update

OK... Update.... This is what has happened...
The lawyer informed our Trustee what happened... Trustee offered to either let us buy the property for $200 a month for 17 months ($3400.00) OR pay $3,000 cash to keep a property worth $15,000 so it worked out for us... No problem... Trustee was very cool and understanding.

[Minnymouth]

Well, it sure does my heart good to know there is a trustee somewhere out there that has a heart.....mine sure didn't.......

Congrads - I 'm glad it turned out that way for you.......that's Great!!!

Minny

[davids]

trustee

Possible outcomes...

1. The trustee will ask the other owners to buy you out at some negotiated amount?

2. The trustee will consider it too much work to get involved and will settle for a pittance?

3. Can the trustee just let it go by the wayside, since it may be a lot of work to liquidate?

Let us know what the attorney says and what happens when you approach the trustee with the info...

good one, if it was found out that i had 16k laying around, one way or another, I think those creditors would want a piece of it, how to get it is another story, thats what it is all about, turning over assets to help pay back creditors...