Forclose in bankruptcy - timeline?

[ItsJustMe]

I've searched around and don't see what I'm looking for.

We had a consult and will likely file 7 later this year. We need a few months to lower our income and (hopefully!!!!!) qualify for a 7 (any suggestions? LOL).

What I didn't think to ask, though. If we include the house in bankruptcy, do we move out before or after the bankruptcy?

[Tbornetun]

The timeline for foreclosure varies state to state. You shouldn't need to move until the foreclosure is completed and filing bankruptcy should stall that process.

[ItsJustMe]

Okay. thanks! I'm in CA. I just wondered if the vacate date changed to the bankruptcy date if you were doing both. The lawyer had said something about how are lender (CW) is about 1 year from first missed payment right now. But we talked about so many different scenarios that I wasn't sure if I was missing a bit of information in there.

[plantlvr]

Maybe that's why I'm still in my home without making a payment to CW since last August! I was discharged from my Ch. 7 in Feb. and am still in my home. No NOD yet, am waiting for one to see if I can work with CW to be able to stay here. Good luck to you!

[ItsJustMe]

Is there a way to edit around here? I can't believe I spelled foreclose wrong LOL.

So Plant, had you planned to foreclose w/ the bankruptcy? We're still not 100% sure we are ready to walk away. We would love to stay here and have a reasonable payment, but we make too much for this help and not enough for another, we're too upside down to do this and not upside down enough for the other. Every new hope that comes along is just squashed in red tape.

[plantlvr]

Yes I was planning for foreclosure after bankruptcy since I was also going through divorce. My ex lived with me for 2 years after we separated [ THAT was fun! ] just to try to save the house. Unfortunately his income dried up as he owns a small business, he moved out and I couldn't make the payments. I would like to stay in the house but don't think it's possible. So I'm saving as much money as i can [at least I have a decent job ] for when the time comes to move.

[imbarbara6]

We have only just stopped making our mortgage payment. We decided we are just to upside down to continue on with it. It just doesn't make sense at our age (51) So we are walking. April 1, was our first missed payment. I don't understand how this is going to play out. We want to file bankruptcy and include all our CC bills which add up to about $30,000. We are unsure of a couple things.. First, since we will be living in the home and not paying the mortgage, we will basically be saving money. How does this play out with the Trustee, considering we will need funds to secure another home. Second, what will our housing expense allowance be on the means test? Will it be the mortgage payment or something else and what would that something be since we will not be living in another when we file.
I'm so confused. Thanks for all the help so far.. we really do appreciate everyone.

[plantlvr]

Well I passed the means test cus I don't own more than one car or have other property. I included all my cc bills, totaled about 30k, and the mortgage. Still living in home, no payments, and socking away my paychecks.
Your daily living expenses, food, gas, etc, are not included in the means test. I'm 52 and yes I'm glad I did the chapter 7, will never get in debt again!

[imbarbara6]

plantlvr- what does the trustee think about socking away the money? are there any problems in doing so? is it allowed? please help.

[imbarbara6]

oy! gosh.. my head is spinning. when you included the mortgage were you including your monthly payment and did you file chapter 7?

[StartingOver08]

Include your mtg payments in your schedules as an expense.

The amount of funds you can keep on hand when you file depends upon your exemptions.

If you rent before you file, then you must use the rental amount rather than the mortgage.

[imbarbara6]

Are you saying we can use our mortgage payment even though we have stopped making the payment? If so, that would be great!!

[plantlvr]

Yes I filed Chapter 7 and included my mortgage and monthly payments. I didn't start seriously saving money until after my discharge. Caught up on utility payments, cell phone and helped my daughter with a bit.
I only kept a few hundred dollars in my checking account which wasn't hard as it cost about 500.00 to do the bankruptcy myself.
Now that it's all done I have a savings account that I put my tax refund in and part of my check goes in too.

[imbarbara6]

and, do we get to take the full amount of our mortgage payment on the means test even though we are no longer making the payment? Gosh, this would be very good news because at the end of the month we are in the red. Guess I'm just confused a little because we are going to let the house go to forclosure and have already missed Aprils payment and are not going to make Mays and I'm unclear if under that circumstance we will still be allowed to use the full mortgage payment. We were going to look for a place to rent soon because I have this fear of being homeless but if I'm understanding you correctly then doing so would mess it up for us because the house payment is much more than rent would be. Can you please clarify for me? It would put to rest some big fears.

[plantlvr]

Yes use the mortgage payments in the means test, I did. If you are going to let your house go into foreclosure than wait until you get the NOD [notice of default] from your mortgage company THEN file. It will put a temporary stop to the foreclosure proceedings until you are discharged, will buy you some more time. I'm in California, a non-judicial State, so foreclosures happen a lot more quickly, but like I said, still no NOD for me, so I'm pretty confident that I can stay in my home through the summer till I have to get out. Look up your States foreclosure timeline, that will give you a better picture of when you need to leave your house. But with the amount of foreclosures in this country I wouldn't be surprised if I can stay longer. It caused me a lot of anxiety in the beginning but the more I researched it the calmer I became. No one was going to show up at my door and throw me out without a lot of advance notice! Good luck to you, search this forum, a GREAT resource, and do your homework, you will be OK!