what can i do here??

[bleak]

looking into chapter 7.

will they come after my father's car?? both my name and his name is on the pink slip. it's his car, i never paid anything on it. i cosigned because i had very good credit back then.

his name is first if that matters.

i have my own car that im going to try to exempt in the bk case (a budget toyota worth few thousand bucks).

is it too late to get my name off the title at the dmv?? my father's car is worth maybe 20-25k.

if it's too late, what are my options?

[Egr61]

If the car is financed, then the bank has the title. They won't take your name off the title unless your father can refinance it in his name only, without you as a cosigner. Yes, they can come after the car unless it can be exempted. Is there any equity in the car?

[despritfreya]

With all due respect to Egr, you have 1/2 bare legal title with no equitable interest in the vehicle. Since you have not put a dime into the vehicle it has no value to you and therefore, no value to the bk estate, regardless of the lien against it. A Chapter 7 Trustee gains no greater rights than you and the Estate's interest in the asset (if there is any equity) is subject to the equitable interest of your father. So long as your father can prove all of the $$ that went into the vehicle was his, including paying the tags and insurance, your father has nothing to worry about.

Des.

[bleak]

thanks for the responses.

my car (the toyota) was never financed, it was paid in full 7 years ago.

my father car was financed, but it was paid off over a year ago. all the payments/insurance/etc were all paid by him (although i did pay his registration a year or two ago when he was on trip overseas).

we have both titles on hand.

my toyota is worth maybe 4-5 thousand dollars, my father's car is worth maybe 20-25 thousand dollars.

im just worried the trustee will consider the car half my, and sell it.

[shark66]

Trustee will most likely consider the car to be half yours. That said, he's probably not going sell it. One half of that highly theoretical sale would have to go to your father. It could get messy.

Any trustee would be the happiest - by far - if you bought your half of the car back from him...as in handed out the cash for half of its value...even through some type of a payment plan, but I guess that this option would be a non-starter for you...

You should see what exemptions you could use for this particular scenario - my (possibly incorrect) understanding is that California offers a lot in that respect.

Good luck.

[tcreegan]

Hi bleak,

Do you have an attorney yet? While you are interviewing attorneys this would be an excellent question to bring up...

I like des' answer the best, even CA system 2 exemptions won't cover a 20-25K car

Switching the title around might work, but it would be disclosed as a 'insider' transfer in the BK, another good question for an attorney...

Hope this works out for you,

Tom in Colo