What if we sold our house before filing?

[nervous1]

If you've read any of my posts, you can see that I'm still in the "denial....questioning" stage.

Have met with attorney only for info. During the meeting, he felt BK7 was likely, but only question is the house. Possibly over the $10,000 exemption (my spouse is not filing).

Okay...so what if we sold our home and our net was over $10,000? Then filed BK? Do I have to give back the amount over $10,000? IF (that's a big "if" with the current housing market) we did sell our house, we would use the proceeds to fix up our lake cabin to live in. (in spouse's name, so not a problem as far as my assets).

If we couldn't sell the house, then more power to the TT to sell it as far as I'm concerned. From my understanding, if he took it and sold it, I would get $10,000 anyway.

FYI, so far I've:

1) Applied for loan modification with BoA - early June. Not too hopeful, but thought it wouldn't hurt to try.

2) Met with attorney this past week - info only.

3) Decided to stop paying cc's on attorney's advice. Either way, I probably should have stopped awhile back, since all my "income" is from my online business and pretty much all of it has gone to cc pmts for several months.

[nervous1]

One more question....

If I did decide to include my home in the BK and Trustee decided to sell, does that mean that my cc's would not be discharged until the house sold? I ask because the attorney told me the other day that he has known cases when the TT had client's houses tied up for 2 years.

[tay666]

First of all.
Where do you live?

You said your spouse is not filing. Is your spouse's name on the deed and the mortguage?
Some states have what is called Tenancy by the Entirety.
Which means, each owns the undivided whole of the property.
So, if you file without your spouse, the trustee cannot touch your home, as your spouse is entitled to it.
Again, some of this depends on what state yuu live in, and if they recognize Tenancy by the Entirety

[nervous1]

Georgia

Spouse's name not on deed or mortgage (no reason other than I bought the home after I sold my TH when I was single)

Don't know about the Tenancy Entirety. Attorney told me exemption was $10,000 for only me to BK7 filer, $20,000 for married couple

[keepmine]

I'd not use the proceeds from the home sale to fix up a house in just your wife's name. You are going to run into a preference issue in a hurry.
You need to put it some exempt asset that you can access post bk. Talk to your lawyer about a Roth IRA or some sort of annuity issued by an insurance company.

If, the trustee sell the house you'll get discharged on schedule but the cash won't close until the trustee has distributed assets to your creditors.

[tay666]

Georgia

Spouse's name not on deed or mortgage (no reason other than I bought the home after I sold my TH when I was single)

Don't know about the Tenancy Entirety. Attorney told me exemption was $10,000 for only me to BK7 filer, $20,000 for married couple

I checked, and Georgia does not offer that protection.
It's kind of a moot point anyway since your spouse isn't on the deed or mortguage.

Looks like you basically have 3 options if you want to file a CH7.

Go ahead and file, and hope you don't have too much equity. (you said you were close, and with the current housing market, the trustee might not go after your house)

Sell your house and put the profits into something the trustee can't touch, and that won't raise too many eyebrows.

Find a way to encumber the house further. Like a home improvement loan, to fix something up on your house.
Though, if you are filing BK, you probably can't afford another payment for something like that.

[JackBondLove]

I don't see what you could buy with the cash from the sale of the house, I would simply let the trustee take the house, in which case he would write you a check for the amount of the exemption.