No assets but received judgment. Do I need a lawyer to remove judgment post BK?

[Beeheery]

Hi everyone, I will be competing my pre-bk counseling this evening and am wondering if I NEED to hire a lawyer. My case is pretty straight forward (unemployed, no income/assets) but there is a judgment against me. Is this something I can have removed myself or should I spend the money and hire a lawyer who can take care of it for me? Thank you!

[justbroke]

By no assets, you means that you don't own a car, don't have any money in a 401(k) or savings, no furniture, no household goods? Determination of no assets is based on exempting everything, or actually having no assets. I just want to make sure that the difference is understood when we say "no assets" and what that means.

So much so, that some people thnk they are "no asset", file pro se and then find the Trustee taking all the money in their bank account, their car, or something else.

First, determine what assets you actually have. Then determine what you can actually exempt. Next, make sure that the assets you think you are protecting are actually protected!

If you have more than $3K in cash in the bank, then you should just hire an attorney. It may be better than filing and just losing the $3K in the bank, and finding you owe even more. You may have sold a car recently, for less than fair market value (FMV). You may have paid back a relative recently... even though it was a "short" term loan, and now the Trustee wants $6K from you (true story, just posted here on BKForum a week ago!).

Depending on your State and local State court rules, you may be able to get rid of the judgment by just filing a Suggestion of Bankruptcy. However, the judgment must impair some sort of bankruptcy exemption, and you may have to file a Motion to Avoid Lien in the bankruptcy court. Generally speaking, you can't avoid the IRS, and you can't avoid consensual liens or liens that do not impair (mostly) household goods as defined in 11 USC 522(f).

[chicagoannie]

What JB said (above.)

If you end up filing pro se, you will likely need to file a motion to vacate judgment after your bankruptcy case is discharged. I filed on my own, no asset, after doing a lot of research on IL BK law and had no difficulties whatsoever. I have several judgments that I will need to address once my case closes.

[Beeheery]

Thank you both. I say I am asset-less since I don't own a home or car, have no savings, no stock etc. I recently withdrew a little over 2000.00 from my checking account and have another 800.00 coming. I figured 300.00 of it would go towards the BK filing fee, 100.00 for the pre/post counseling and another 1000-1500 for an attorney if I use one. I live in the state of FL so I think I have 5000.00 that I can exempt including cash. The only household goods I own are my bed, desk, dresser and tv. I live rent/expense free with a roommate. Can I get in trouble just for withdrawing such huge amounts? I am afraid of my account being frozen due to my judgement. I have the cash on hand at home. But this shouldn't even matter though since it would easily come under my 5K wildcard correct? Thank you!

[chicagoannie]

Get that bank account down to $5 if it's not there already! And stop all direct deposits and/or autopays.

[justbroke]

Same as above. For Florida, you have a Constitutional wildcard exemption of $1,000 (Article X Section 4). You also get the so-called "unused homestead exemption" to be used as a wildcard, and that amount is $4,000 (F.S. 222.25(4)). (I can't believe I remember all this without looking it up!) So the total is $5,000 for a single debtor, who doesn't own a homestead (or is surrendering it).

You may need to explain that cash, but you can exempt it anyhow! I would make sure you list your true "cash on hand" amount on Schedule B (Personal Property) and make sure to exempt it on Schedule C under the appropriate statutory of constitutional scheme. If you exempt it, you probably won't need to explain it, but the Trustee may still inquire.

The real key, for a Chapter 7, is whether you have a job? Are you under the median? Do you pass the means test?

[Beeheery]

Hi Annie, I have no direct deposits. The only reason I have this $$ at all is due to returning a gift I received (and they cut me a check for a refund) and ebay money that I recently made from selling a few high priced items. This is NOT common for me at all and I RARELY have any money in my account. Should I just leave some small amount in my checking like say $25.00? Should I be keeping receipts for EVERYTHING I buy with this cash (food/groceries/gas etc)?