341 on 5/23 but had to buy a car today

[BrokeIn2010]

I was in a accident (not our fault) the late yesterday. The car when we're in was our and listed on our bankruptcy. The car is totaled (luckly we weren't killed). My uncle sold up a 15 year old van this morning for $200-- beater "make do", needs working on. I know I have to list the van on my petition now, but can it cause a issue with our 341 cause we bought a car?

[tripbuddy]

I don't know the answer to your question, I'm new and clueless here. I just wanted to say I'm glad you are ok!

[daylate]

I'm pretty sure that what you bought won't cause you a problem-you have to have something to drive. Issues I see potentially cropping up:

What is the value of the van? Can you exempt whatever it is?

If insurance sends you check for the value of your totaled car, you now have cash to deal with.`

Somewhere there is a thread about this situation-see if you can find it. I'll look too. I searched on "totaled my car"-bunch of stuff showed up-mostly from people who had accidents prior to filing but you might find something helpful there.

Not sure of answers but these are two potential issues. But since you have already filed the situation at that time was different so you may be okay. Just kind of rambling stream of consciousness here.

[BrokeIn2010]

Probably no insurance payoff: A horse jumped a fence, onto a 2 lane highway, spooked, and ran into (yes into) and onto our car. Caved in the front of the car, broke at least one engine mount, fronts suspension is destroyed, and pinned my mother (the driver) under the dashboard. The car is complete junk now. The house attached to the field the horse was last seen in is abandoned and no one is claiming to no who owns the horse; the police are waiting on the vet to see if the horse was chipped or tattoo with a shot-record number. Insurance Company said a couple hours ago (in their words) we're "s**t out of luck on getting the car paid for if we can't find the owner" and even then we've gotta prove they owned the horse and if so that they were negligent and that horse didn't just spook and jump the fence.

The van is a 96 Ford Club. Blue book is 1800 (we've got 5000 of our Wild Card exemption left, so I think we're in the clear there). My uncle sold it cheap to help out family and get it out of his field. Needs some engine work, a lot of rust and dents, interior is rough and missing parts, and it needs a new master cylinder & brake lines; going to cost me about $500 to $600 to make it a reliable drive-to-work car till we can afford something better. I figure we could value it at closers to 1200 or a 1000.

Our Attorney is on a vacation, so we couldn't get a hold of him today and we need a car pretty much immediately. The only thing I had to drive was my mother's old Ford pickup (which is unsafe and the engine stalls).

[daylate]

I'd say you are okay, but I am not an expert. Good luck.

[BrokeIn2010]

I figure we can't be the first people this sort of thing has happend too. And it isn't a case of us jumping and buying a extra car for the fun of it. We're just replacing something that was destroyed. Plus we've got enough exemption to cover the new car. And isn't a case of us trying to hide anything by putting in someone else's name.

I figure, worse case, the trustee might make us pay the blue-book value to the court (1800). I certainly can't seen them trying to auction off a 1800 dollar car to split up between $30,000 worth of creditors.

[keepsmiling]

OMG who coulda seen that coming.... happy you are ok.

[btbeme]

Bring copy of accident report, insurance filing (and all insurance correspondence, checks, etc - in writing), bill of sale for van, and two or three value estimates for van AND totaled vehicle to 341 hearing. Let the Trustee sort it out after you amend your filing. Be up front and honest about the situation. If the Trustee has questions, you will have answers right there. If not, well, no worries!

[BrokeIn2010]

What worries me, is that we bought the car a month before our 341. We hand the accident on the 25th, got the car the morning of the 26th (God bless family that wants to help), and got our 341 packet in the mail on the evening of the 26th, the court day is May 23rd. It's total crap timing.

We found out who owned the horse (shot record) and the cops contacted the guy yesterday, the owner called me up and made physical threats and claimed he worked for the sheriff's office and could make us "pay" if we ""F**k with him". Called the sheriff, talked to his second-in-command, they want this guy's head (well they phrased it another way).

And of all the things I"m worried is this holding up our BK, now. The cops want a full investigation and want to press criminal charges against the guy that owned the horse. And our attorney's legal aide wants to haul the guy into civil court and sue for damages-plus and his trying to get our attorney back from vacation to go after this guy.

[keepmine]

This won't hold up the bk.
The bk court has no interest in an outside criminal investigation that has nothing to do with your bk. Any lawsuit will have to be listed on the schedules and could be property of the bk estate but that won't hold up the bk process.
You've done nothing wrong. It's not your fault you were involved in an accident. Stuff happens and you just bought a reasonable ride to get to work. No issues there-just disclose it.

[chrisdfw]

I think the lawsuit is post filing, and not an asset of the estate, talk to your attorney.

[SunshineGal]

Hi agree with Chris...talk to your attorney, but since this all happened after the date of filing I don't think it's going to be a problem.

Glad you and your Mom are okay, that had to be a little scary!

[chicagoannie]

I'm so glad you and your mom are ok!

I didn't read anyone else's comments, but your insurance company saying they won't pay out because the owner of the horse can't be ascertained sounds like horse doodie to me.

[BrokeIn2010]

The papers say they were filed in the court on 4/19, assigned a date (5/23/11) on and mailed on 4/21. We received them on the afternoon of 4/26 but had the accident on the night of 4/25.

Talked to the attorney's paralegal today, he's coming back early and we have a meeting on Tuesday. We're to stop everything to do with the BK (the counseling classes) till we talk to him. He needs pics of the van we bought and what we think it's worth not what we paid (I'm thinking $1000 and that's being generous, I'm finding more and more problems with it), try to hold off on fixing the van as long as we can to keep from adding value *shrug*, we need all the accident paperwork, pics of the wrecked car, tow bill, and he's thinking about asking for a new court date so that we can get t he car situation settled or (failing that) have the car that was wrecked devalued to 0 and taken off the schedules.

[AngelinaCat]

I am so glad that you have what appears to be a GREAT attorney. Ours wouldn't come off vacation on a bet, no matter what.

Our attorney was so out of touch, that when the expiration date for a settlement that the trustee offered us via our attorney, regarding our 2004(b) examination, that they contacted US instead. WE negotiated our settlement of that particular problem, and did fine. No thanks at all to our attorney.

God Bless both of you. I am following.....