Do I choose what isn't covered by exemptions?

[jdcat]

If we end up being over our exemptions, it's going to be close for us I think, do I get to choose what is covered by our exemptions? Say for example we are over by $500.00, can I choose to not cover clothing and other household items (things I know the trustee won't bother trying to take or make us buy back) or will the trustee have a say in what isn't covered? I've never been really clear on this.

[OhioFiler]

If we end up being over our exemptions, it's going to be close for us I think, do I get to choose what is covered by our exemptions? Say for example we are over by $500.00, can I choose to not cover clothing and other household items (things I know the trustee won't bother trying to take or make us buy back) or will the trustee have a say in what isn't covered? I've never been really clear on this.

What do you have that makes you think you will be over? It's rare for anyone to be over if you mostly have just regular stuff.

[jdcat]

It's going to be close with our home equity. We have a $30K homestead exemption but have about $33K in equity. Which is ok because we can use our wildcard of $16K to cover that $3K. But if we end up running short, which we may because my car is almost paid off and I'll be using some of our wildcard to cover it's value, then I'm curious to know if I can use up the remaining wildcard exemption to cover the things we want to keep and leave our clothing and old appliances and such exposed. Make sense?

[OhioFiler]

It's going to be close with our home equity. We have a $30K homestead exemption but have about $33K in equity. Which is ok because we can use our wildcard of $16K to cover that $3K. But if we end up running short, which we may because my car is almost paid off and I'll be using some of our wildcard to cover it's value, then I'm curious to know if I can use up the remaining wildcard exemption to cover the things we want to keep and leave our clothing and old appliances and such exposed. Make sense?

Your clothes and old appliances and old furniture and old tv's aren't worth anything. Just include them generally on your schedules but keep the total value under your exemption limit. No one will audit you.

[jdcat]

I did that but because of being over the homestead exemption, having to cover the equity in my car, and my husbands work tools and his boat, we are cutting it really close. There is no tools of the trade exemption here as far as I can tell.

I claimed the value of our two old TVs at $21. One is 17 years old and I put a value of $1 on that one and the other is 10 years old and I valued that one at $20. I figured I could get $20 bucks for it because there is nothing wrong with it. This valuing stuff is hard though. I tried to be as objective as possible when valuing our stuff but it's almost impossible to really know the true used value of something unless you work in some industry that deals with used stuff.

Do you know OhioFiler if I can choose what gets covered and what doesn't?

[OhioFiler]

You should just list household furnishings at a couple hundred dollars and misc, household items at a few hundred more. No reason to itemize. I wouldn't give you $2 for those TV's.

[jdcat]

Posting this for the heck of it...if anyone thinks any of these values are *way* off would you please leave a comment or two, it would be much appreciated!


Clothing - $200 (5 people)
Bedding - $20

Appliances...
refrigerator - $300 (less than a year old)
stove - $10 (over 20 years old)
freezer - $100 (less than a year old, not big, $300 new)
washer/dryer - $70 (washer over 13 years old)
microwave - $0 (not working right)
coffee pot/blender/toaster - $5
pots, pans, plates, flatware, bowls, cups - $20
miscellaneous kitchen utensils - $5
vacuum - $10

Furniture...
mattresses/bed frames, headboards etc. - $150
sofa - $0 (frame broken, rip in material)
recliner - $5
entertainment center - $10
computer desk - $20
table/chairs - $50
book shelves - $10
end tables - $10
coffee table - $10
hutch - $20 (over 40 years old, missing parts, I fear this may be an antique)
dressers - $20 (out of 9 dressers only 1 escaped water damage in the basement)
lamps - $5

Electronics...
computer - $50
video camera - $10
camera - $10
kids' video game stuff - $100 (including games)
TV - $20
TV #2 - $1
DVD player - $5
VCR - $0 (this thing really sucks)
DVDs/VHS movies - $50
Music Cd's - $30




Pet Equipment...
Dog crate - $20
Dog crate - $5
Cat tree - $0 (couldn't pay someone to take this thing)
5 gallon plastic aquarium - $2
10 gallon glass aquarium - $5
40 gallon critter cage - $10
guinea pig cage - $10


General home decorative knick-knacks - $20
Kids' Toys - $100
Books - $50
Tools - $75
Fishing equipment - $200
Snowblower - $50
Lawn mower - $30
Husbands work tools (kept at work) - $1500
Family pictures - $20
Jewelry - $50
Bicycles - $100
Boats motors and accessories - $850
24 foot round above ground swimming pool - $300
(pool is leaking, to expensive to fix, taking it down this spring)
Animals...
two dogs/four cats/fish/guinea pig/two rats - $10

[jdcat]

You should just list household furnishings at a couple hundred dollars and misc, household items at a few hundred more. No reason to itemize. I wouldn't give you $2 for those TV's.

Now I wonder if I over valued everything.

[DeadManCrawling]

In looking at your list, it appears quite overvalued to me. Perhaps 50% in most items.

A leaking pool that is expensive to repair has a real value of $0.00.

I would slash the whole list by an average of 40%, perhaps more. Some items shouldn't be there at all. Your kids are not filing BK. You are. Their possessions do not need to be listed at all, toys, clothing etc.

[SMinGA]

I gave a long list to our attorney and he lumped household goods together and set a total value, indicating no single item over $300.

You should be able to choose where to apply the wildcard. Most states have a HH goods exemption that covers that sort of stuff so you're probably over-thinking that. You'd be able to apply your wildcard to the extra home equity, vehicle and whatever else did not have enough specific exemptions. If there is enough wildcard to go around - you should be ok.

For your husband's work tools, perhaps look on Craigslist & Ebay and find out what similar are going for?

[OhioFiler]

In looking at your list, it appears quite overvalued to me. Perhaps 50% in most items.

A leaking pool that is expensive to repair has a real value of $0.00.

I would slash the whole list by an average of 40%, perhaps more. Some items shouldn't be there at all. Your kids are not filing BK. You are. Their possessions do not need to be listed at all, toys, clothing etc.

Agree 100% with DMC's analysis. You are easily 40% overstate, probably even more. I would refrain from itemizing as well. Household furnishing is a comprehensive enough description. The trustee's know what you have.

[jdcat]

In looking at your list, it appears quite overvalued to me. Perhaps 50% in most items.

A leaking pool that is expensive to repair has a real value of $0.00.

I would slash the whole list by an average of 40%, perhaps more. Some items shouldn't be there at all. Your kids are not filing BK. You are. Their possessions do not need to be listed at all, toys, clothing etc.

Thanks DMC. Wow...ok, I didn't think I was that far off. Thanks for letting me know. I'm curious now to see what our attorney says. I dropped off the list that I posted above to him today before I began this thread.

[jdcat]

I gave a long list to our attorney and he lumped household goods together and set a total value, indicating no single item over $300.

You should be able to choose where to apply the wildcard. Most states have a HH goods exemption that covers that sort of stuff so you're probably over-thinking that. You'd be able to apply your wildcard to the extra home equity, vehicle and whatever else did not have enough specific exemptions. If there is enough wildcard to go around - you should be ok.

For your husband's work tools, perhaps look on Craigslist & Ebay and find out what similar are going for?

We only have the homestead and the wildcard exemptions in our state. Oh, and a $300 "other property" that we can use for cash on hand. No vehicle or HH goods exemptions. Thank goodness we can double them or we'd be in big trouble with our house and my car.

I'm going to check out e-bay and craigslist for the tools because that was a tough category to rate. Thanks for the idea.

[jdcat]

Agree 100% with DMC's analysis. You are easily 40% overstate, probably even more. I would refrain from itemizing as well. Household furnishing is a comprehensive enough description. The trustee's know what you have.

Thank you for your continuing input Ohiofiler. Much appreciated! I've read so many threads on this but when it came down to it and I had to actually value my own stuff I just felt competely clueless.

[pcn]

After going through the process just past our 341, I really wonder how closely anyone really looks at those numbers. I think that they probably look at major things like vehicle, RV's, etc. I don't even remember what we decided on for the little stuff, and not a word was said about any of it. We are over median and 100K+ unsecured, so I just knew we'd have extra scrutiny.