Assets, what do you have to give up?

[KevinR]

How detailed do they get when looking at your assets? Car, house obviously, but what about other stuff? TV's, stereos, furniture, collectibles, yadda yadda yadda.

Is there some dollar value they're looking for before they care about a given asset, or do they simply look for anything they think would sell? I've got a home theater with stuff that's realistically worth maybe $2500, my wife has an antique Chinese desk that is worth several thousand at least, various collectibles worth probably thousands if they're added up, a few power tools I don't care to lose, and so on. I don't really see anything in the exemptions list that covers stuff like that outside of the wildcard. So is it up for grabs?

[StaciMM]

Each state has a list of exemptions-amounts you can keep in different categories.

Look up your state at www.bankruptcyaction.com.

[bkfiler]

'everything' you own is no longer yours when you file a bk. whatever you can legally exempt will be turned back over to you legally once you are discharged. anything outside of that can be taken and sold. not sure on the amount and its always up to the trustee but its got to be worth his time to take it. so prob starts at 1000 min if not 2000 over some exemption for something that would have to be sold. anything cash will be taken cuz its easy.

the key is can you exempt it to protect it. but everything gets listed on the petition.

[KevinR]

the key is can you exempt it to protect it. but everything gets listed on the petition.

Ouch.

So in practice they're probably not going to bother with various small stuff that might add up to something if you threw it all in a big pot (like, say my comic book collection), they'll only want to take single items worth a reasonable amount of money.

Who determines the value of an item for the purpose of applying your exemptions?

[bkfiler]

no. they could/would take the comic book collection if you cant exempt it. and they will take part of it if they think its worth their while.

think of it this way.

1- everything must be listed.

2 - your exemption for your court state how it must be listed and what can be exempted to keep.

3 - anything left over can be taken by the trustte. he makes his money this way.

4 - as FoolAndHisMoney once put it, "they dont want the courthouse turning into a garage sale". having said that, if they can make money off it then they will take it. it must be worth their time. and that is gonna depend on the trustee.

as for who determines it... its you to start with.you are listing it. if htey have a problem with it then they will argue about it or send a appraiser.

[KevinR]

So how does that work if I file and my wife doesn't? How in the world am I supposed to decide what is mine and what is hers? There's a few things that predate the marriage, but the vast majority of the household stuff doesn't belong to one person specifically. Good example I guess is the house itself, which I would obviously want to exempt. Equity in it is $30,000 roughly, but it's in both our names. So if I filed would I only need to exempt $15,000 of the equity?

[bkfiler]

i pay attorneys to handle it. i encourage you to do the same for sure. its not easy and has long lasting consequences. im not married so i dont know.

with a face like this im neve gonna settle down, im always in demand

[JimH]

Kind of sounds like you may be better off going ch 13. With the kind of items you are talking about you might lose more than you'd like if you don't.

By the way, you have to list everything but don't make it too easy on him to see value. Remember the trustee gets a cut of anything he can sell. He'll get real excited about "antique china desk" and "comic book collection". You may just have a wooden desk and three boxes of magazines to someone that doesn't know. Don't lie but at least set a low standard to start from. Value is a guess and you are much better off to guess low. All you are doing is setting the lowest price the trustee will be willing to part with it. If you end up wanting to buy some of the items back or switching over to a ch 13, the values you put down are the ones you'll be negociating from.

[bkfiler]

yes trustees love desks lol. im still trying to teach staci this one.

[JimH]

So how does that work if I file and my wife doesn't? How in the world am I supposed to decide what is mine and what is hers? There's a few things that predate the marriage, but the vast majority of the household stuff doesn't belong to one person specifically. Good example I guess is the house itself, which I would obviously want to exempt. Equity in it is $30,000 roughly, but it's in both our names. So if I filed would I only need to exempt $15,000 of the equity?

In some states (forget which), if only one files and the property is titled Tenants by the Entirety (I believe this is the correct phrase), it is totally exempt. On splitting the rest of the assets, I'm not sure how they look at that. The sad part is the "means test" is based on your combined incomes no matter if you file together or separate.

[JimH]

yes trustees love desks lol. im still trying to teach staci this one.

Hey I think you're onto something there... Staci would make a mighty tough trustee.

[KevinR]

The sad part is the "means test" is based on your combined incomes no matter if you file together or separate.

That's not a problem for me. My wife doesn't make much, her income is almost irrelevant in the big picture.

[JimH]

I'm just speaking for me, but if I file, I'm going to make darn sure I don't have much of anything in value in my possesion. (if you know what I mean). If theres no paper trail, how would the trustee know? I don't have a lot anyway but the items I do have thats worth something, I may be entrusting them to a few family members until I'm done. I've heard that as long as you have a lawyer, the chances of the trustee sending someone to your home for inspection is lower.

The only problem I have is how to explain all of the indents in the carpet where the baby grand set.

Just joking....I'm an ape and have no use for such refinements.

[JimH]

with a face like this im neve gonna settle down, im always in demand

ROFLMAO Damn I missed this one earlier. Yes, I'm sure when you come around you get all the looks. What are you? shemale?

[StaciMM]

Only one problem-I wouldn't like studying law, and I certainly wouldn't want to pay for it! I will go back to school in the next few years, but to finish my accounting degree. Hey-when I'm a CPA, everyone here gets a discount on their taxes.

Staci needs to be a lawyer. Her passion for helping people with this is obvious. She ought to go to law school, pass the bar and get paid for it