Idaho

[bkondeff]

Doing research on Exemptions in Idaho. Helped my folks with filling in Calif where reasonable allowances for personal assets helped them keep their minor assets of approx $20,000. Have a friend now considering Ch 7 here in Idaho and should easily qualify on Income, but the exemptions here seem awfully limited. Really the only things of value he has is one Quad($2500), 2 motorcycles($2000/ea), and 3 guns($750/ea). He has no equity in his home, so the large Homestead will do him no good. The exemptions for personal items seems very limited and I see no language to allow for the use of the unused Homestead or any Wildcard to help him out. He has a simple life and I hate to see him have to give up the few things he uses to get away from his worries. The statue can be found in the Wiki section of this website. Any advice??

[Dewkitty]

Idaho will allow him to keep one gun and none of the toys. Their general take is if you're bankrupt, then you can't afford to have toys. You can't apply the unused Homestead credit anywhere else, and they do provide a $750 wildcard.

Here are the Idaho Exemptions from the state statutes:

legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title11/T11CH6SECT11-605.htm

[bkondeff]

It seems that in many cases the Trustee's don't go out of their way to collect and sell minor amounts of personal property. The definition of "minor" in that comment is certainly seems to vary, but in most cases it seems like trustee's won't go out of their way for even $5-$10k, as the effort to liquidate is simply not worth it. Would anyone disagree? Especially as Idaho is concerned as with my research this state seems to be pretty skimpy on it's exemptions relative to other states. This economy has hurt a lot of my friends and I am trying to help them understand enough to get them to an attorney for the bigger picture. One problem is most of the decent attorneys here are consumed by the banks, leaving the attorney's who's advice is almost purely driven by what pays them the best. So getting some real world advice that goes a little beyond just the statute would be helpful.

[justbroke]

The definition of "minor" in that comment is certainly seems to vary, but in most cases it seems like trustee's won't go out of their way for even $5-$10k, as the effort to liquidate is simply not worth it. Would anyone disagree?

Nice to know that Idaho trustees are lazy (or nice). This just doesn't fly in Florida and a significant number of debtors actually have appraisers come to their homes. I don't see how the effort to liquidate $5-$10K is not worth it in any context. A smart Trustee will hire a company to appraise and liquidate the items in an estate auction. That's no work for the Trustee, and the Trustee can make a few bucks.

I think that what happens is that people undervalue the items and the Idaho trustees don't want to waste their time on small potatoes (pun intended). However, don't be relaxed or complacent in believing that the Trustee won't go after that much of non-exempt property. It just makes no sense to me at all.

[bkondeff]

Thanks for the response, I ask as I want real world expectation, not just statutes. I admit that it is best to prepare for the worst though.

[justbroke]

No two cases are alike and especially across Trustees. You need to only prepare for what the law requires the Trustee to do. Not plan for a complacent Trustee to overlook things. Too many people have come on here after the fact and looking for solutions to circumstances that they "hoped" would turn out different. Even when they thought they used the correct exemptions.

Way too many factors and even if you are under the median, a different Trustee could treat you differently (period). I implore you, especially because you are providing "advice" to someone else, to inform your friend that he should employ counsel if he has assets that he wants to keep.

[bkondeff]

I implore you, especially because you are providing "advice" to someone else, to inform your friend that he should employ counsel if he has assets that he wants to keep.

I agree with you 100%. I don't like being in my position to "advise", but as I work in the financial industry, people gravitate to me as they have a hard time getting unbiased advice. I simply try to give them enough advice based on real world experiences to direct them to a lawyer. Unfortunately, most of the good lawyers work for banks and the rest are either in super high demand or worry about $$ first. Thanks again for your responses and ADVICE!