Question about Dual Checking/Car Loans

[depeche3]

We are contemplating doing a BK later this year but I'm a little worried about a couple of things. My wife and I have 2 car loans out that are fairly new and have very little equity in, BUT my son has a paid for car worth about $7000 that is in his name AND my wife's name too. Is this a problem that my wife is on the title as far as a BK goes? In a similar situation she is on his checking account ( opened it with him at age 15) and savings account which has over 4K in it. The only deposits to either of those accounts come from HIS PAYCHECK only. Would a trustee in a Chp 7 try to claim these items? Thanks in advance for any ideas...........

[keepinitreal]

Your son should probably open a new bank account in his own name only somewhere else that none of you owe money to. After any auto-deposits are transferred, new checks are delivered, and the old account has been idle a while, he could either leave a token amount in his old account but keep it open, or go ahead and close his old account.

[depeche3]

Wouldn't that look "fishy" to the trustee? We have our 2 car loans at the bank but will be reaffirming those. We owe no other debt to them. I'm worried about the trustee seizing his car and savings account because my wife's name is on there with his.

[keepinitreal]

Wouldn't that look "fishy" to the trustee? We have our 2 car loans at the bank but will be reaffirming those. We owe no other debt to them. I'm worried about the trustee seizing his car and savings account because my wife's name is on there with his.

I was in a similar situation (http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=47230). Soon after our son turned 18 my wife removed her name from his account. We all 3 opened new accounts at other banks. My son moved almost all of his money to his new bank.

This was 6 months ago. We've retained an attorney but we're waiting a while longer to file bankruptcy. Our attorney didn't see a problem with this. The old accounts are still open, just with minimal money in them.

Since you're going to file later this year, consider getting free consultations with attorneys and ask them about your son's car and savings account. The attorneys should know what flies in your district. Good luck!

[depeche3]

We're just starting to make consultation appointments now with attorneys. I'm not worried about our bank taking his money because we only have car loans with them that we are current on and reaffirming. I'm worried about the trustee seeing an account with my wife's name on it that has 4K in it and then trying to seize it. All that money is from my son's job and that can be easily proved. Any ideas about the car? Should I just remove my wife's name from the title? Would that look bad? Thanks for the info so far.........