Spoke to some lawyers today- now more unsure

[harris]

I spoke too a couple of BK lawyers on the phone today.
Not the best situation. their were a couple of transactions that I made that they see could be a red flag for the trustree.
Even though i did explain the reason behind the transfer their comment was the reason does not matter, the fact that it happand could be an issue. The transfer was We paid off a joint debt with a joint check, it was a large check/debt

That I would need to disclose everything, which is fine. Still bothers me how on the phone the lawyers(okey one of the three) are saying if i dont disclose its fraud etc. Which sorry to go on, but if i was not planning on disclousing then I would not be telling them about it on the phone.

The whole point for me is too protect my wife and kids. But from what the lawyers are saying my wife might not be protected, and might have to file as well. Which is not a good situation.

We are loosing the house to forclosure in March, and I guess we have until September for the redemtion period at least thats what the forclosure letter said from the banks lawyers here in the twin cities. Thats okey we are leaving the
twin cities at the end of school year. No strike that we are leaving the United States at the end of the school year.

So please tell me if I am crazy but if I want to protect my wife and not have her file. That perhaps the best option would for me to do nothing. Let them go to court get a judgement and then come and then let take the assets and garnish my wages.

The only real asset is in my retirement account and from my understanding that cant be touched. Of course it means i can't withdraw from it either, and as for the wages, it would be a pleasure to trade wage right now i am self employed. In the future who knows.

With no money to run the business. All i have left is a little bit of inventory under $2000 and a login name for ebay and amazon.

Am i allow too transfer my amazon.com or ebay login name. I think ebay has rules about that. With amazon I would either close it and restart one under my wifes name, or my prefer way is too just change the tax infomation and put the money it gets into my wifes account. or a llc that she owns, of course she would have to fund the company.

Which then makes me ask, even though having an old amazon account isit better to open a new amazon account. Maybe it would be best just to close the old amazon account off and restart a new clear one that is 100% in her name

If your reading this i got too say wow, and thank you, and feel free to give my your advice. Lawyers are well lawyers.

[keepmine]

The transfer was We paid off a joint debt with a joint check, it was a large check/debt


I don't understand why you think your wife could have ever been protected. Paying off a joint debt with a joint check was just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Why not just both of you file and be done with it?
If the trustee feels the transfer was apreference issue he/she will just seek to recover the funds from whomever you repaid. It ought not to affect your case.

[harris]

The reason was that it was more then six months ago.
The reason why I dont want my wife to file is that if we were to file, that right now she still has good credit
and she could restart the business. The amount we get from the exemptions would not be enough to restart the business. If she were to file, it would have serious side effect on our move, as the only income we are going to have for the time being is from the business.

[btbeme]

Generally speaking, any transfer of cash from a credit card would be a red flag for the Trustee for a period of a year. The longer ago it was, the less likely it would be to cause a problem, but a year is pretty much the target time period.

That said, "protecting" the wife and kids means...what exactly? I am guessing that you mean protecting them from the general messiness of the BK process? If that is the point, I'd say this... The kids need not be exposed to the financial difficulties of the parents. The biggest risks that are present would be the BK being dismissed (because of the transfer or other causes), the BK getting ugly (because of the same, or because of filing alone), or your wife's credit being "ruined" by having to file BK with you (in order to cleanly resolve all joint credit issues). You might not have a choice when joint credit is a subject. I think that the risk of an ugly, complicated, and possibly disallowed Ch 7 are very real if you dive in right away, and alone.

The attorneys have a duty to tell you what can happen. Your primary responsibility to your family is to minimize the impact of the BK on their lives. I think that is the point that you are trying to make, and I would certainly agree. However, as I was once told, you may not like all the answers you get when you are filing for BK, but those are the answers.

I'd speak again to an attorney that you trust the most to see what your alternatives would be, and the risks that each has. The fact that you are leaving the US in a few months will certainly play into your decision.

[Drazil65]

When you made the transfer was the intent solely to get the joint debt out of wifes name in anticipation of filing after the 6 month time frame is up? I am sure you can see how this is going to be a red flag for some time if this was the intent to begin with and I am sure this is what the attorney was trying to say. Also, have you made payments on this debt during the 6 month period to show at least you tried to pay this debt down? Your wife may have no choice but to file as well. When you say you are leaving the country when school is out but you cannot do it unless wife has good credit to run business then maybe you need to have a backup plan for your timeframe. Sounds like maybe there is more to this story than we know?

[harris]

Its been a while since I had posted anything. I was waiting for the discharge which i got while ago.
Everything worked out just fine. The Trustee did not even question any of the transactions. The whole process was much easier then I had thought.
The only thing my lawyer told me was too "shut up".

[keepmine]

Good job! Hope things are looking up for you on the employment front.