Urgent help needed>>>

[trader19]

Guys,

have not been on in awhile. In the process of waiting out a year since some preferential payments in order to declare. only a few months away and my mother-in-law just dropped a bomb on me. My mother-in-law lost her husband a few years back. her health is not great as well. so, a few years ago, she added my wife's name to her bank account and possible a CD just in case something happened to her that was debilitating (prior to getting a power of attorney, which she ended up doing). the bank account has about $10,000 in it and the CD is worth about $25,000. the bank account is funded by my mother-in-laws monthly social security payments and the CD tax info only goes to my mother-on-law since she was the one that purchased it. my wife did not even know about the accounts. my mother's intention was to take the names off once the power of attorney was completed. she forgot to.

do i have any kind of exposure here? can my mother in law just remove my wife's name?

please help!!!!

thanks.

[HHM]

Not a problem whatsoever as far as the BK is concerned.

Yes, your mother can remove your wife's name. However, the only reason to do so would be if your wife is also on your debts thereby creating a risk of judgment and garnishment. If your wife is not at risk of judgment, then no need to do anything. Either way, the bankruptcy petition has a question which would require disclosure of the account, so taking the name off the account actually creates the impression that you have something to hide. Again, not a big deal, the only issue is whether your wife is at risk of judgment and garnishment. If so, then the account is at risk.

At most, the BK trustee may ask for some bank statements to verify that the money in the account is really your mother's and not your wife's. Think of it this way, if a friend of yours is going away for 2 months, and he asks you to park his 1959 corvette at your house and drive it once a week to keep the engine in good shape, that corvette does not suddenly become your car. Same thing here, just because your name is on a bank account doesn't mean the money in the account actually belongs to you.