I am getting ready to file Chapter 7. I have stopped paying my creditors and have two questions. First, now that I am not paying bills, I have money in my account. And once I file and cannot pay any creditors, I will accumulate more cash. What do I do with that money? My second question has to do with a rental property. When I was having troupble paying bills, I rented out my condo and moved in with a friend. I collect rent but it does not cover all the costs of the property. Do I have to move back in the condo when I go bankrupt or can I leave the tenants in the condo? And if they stay in the condo, does that rent count as income when I am doing the means test? Thanks with any help you can give me!
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With the cash you save before filing you can spend on day to day living expenses. After you file you can do pretty much what you want with new cash you bring in. On the day you file, you have to make sure you don't have too much or you will lose it to the trustee. Figure out what exemptions you will be using-Maine or Federal and make sure you can exempt any cash you have on hand.
As to the rental property I'm not sure but I would use the search function and see what is out here on rental properties, renting my house, etc. Stuff like that. I do know it is not as simple as you just keep collecting rent and not paying the mortgage(s). Start with this one:
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Hi djzown,
One thing to do w/ that money is pay a BK attorney! A good local BK attorney will know what you can spend $$ on that won't cause a problem in the BK. They can also explain Maines BK exemptions, I think they have an exemption to protect a sizeable chunk of cash from a BK.
Best path would be to schedule some consultations, take your numbers and see what they say. Other points to discuss:
Communication: phone/email/face-to-face, secretary/paralegal/attorney, turnaround time on responses
Organizaton/work ethic: dot all i's, cross all t's or 'good enough,' document filed ASAP or 'before the deadline'
Competence: know the local trustees, judges, filed cases like yours, up-to-date on relevant court rulings
Retainer/Fee: exactly what is covered, what is extra, what to expect as 'extra'
The rented condo presents some dilemmas, claiming the homestead exemption, what do you use for household expenses, what are the upsides to keeping it rented and what are the downsides, etc.
Good luck to you with this!
Tom in ColoCh7 filed 5/12/2010.....341 meeting 6/30/2010....report of no distribution 8/15/2010.....discharged 10/01/2010.....closed 11/09/2010Comment
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