Should I include my husband's personal property?

[lotsahats]

I am married, but filing individually, and do NOT live in a community property state.

Having clarified that, the questionnaire given me by a prospective attorney is asking about things such as books, CDs, video games, etc.

Now, we each have our own laptops. His is his, and mine is mine. The same goes for the Playstation 2, and the Nintendo Gamecube. Those are all him. I don't play video games.

Also, he owns books on subjects that interest him (as do most people). I do not consider his books on the Bermuda Triangle mine, any more than he considers my Twilight books his.

And then, there's his wedding ring. It's a simple 10 karat band, but you'd probably have to use wire cutters to get it off his finger, so, once that's done...you get the idea.

And, obviously, I don't wear his clothes, either.

So, do I include everything in my apartment? Or just my stuff?

BTW, this is not me being crazy, this time. I'm just inquiring about the correct way to fill out the paperwork.

[mountanddo]

My guess would be no but others who have filed separately will chime in I'm sure.

[keepsmiling]

^ ditto.

[SMinGA2]

My thoughts (opinion, not legal advise of course): if its his and you're filing solo, it doesn't get mentioned. If its jointly owned, it would need to be listed & your ownership 'equity' would be 1/2. Such as a joint checking account with $574 on the date of filing: $287 is yours. Your attorney will know how to account for things that are jointly owned.

[StartinOver]

We did file jointly. I took our gold jewelry, including a diamond ring left him by his grandfather to a pawn shop and asked for a surrender value. They used the weight of the gold and did not even think about the value of the diamond (which has inclusions, but it was a 2 carat stone). The total value of ALL our gold jewelry, i.e., that diamond ring and his wedding band and mine, totaled a whopping $300.00 at the time. Well within the exclusion value for jewelry in a chapter 7.

I agree with SMinGA2, although the joint checking account, if you have rights to expend all the money (i.e., you could write a check for the whole balance and legally cash it without his signature on the check,) you may not be able to go halvsees on that. Consult the attorney, for sure. Of course the right strategy is a spend down on legitimate expenses and choosing a filing date BEFORE your next pay dates.

[lotsahats]

I should have clarified, I do intend to include all property we jointly own. It was just the laptops and game consoles that made me wonder, because those aren't mine. But, honestly, it really doesn't make a difference. I have enough exemptions to cover even his stuff.

[dman]

Not a community property state = what's yours is yours, and what's his is his. Doesn't even matter who paid for it. So if you paid for a car that's in his name, that's HIS car (and likewise if he paid for a car in your name, that's YOUR car). So you only need to count your stuff. Opinions vary, but anything joint (such as appliances) I would figure the yard-sale value, and half it. And just because you have enough exemptions to cover everything that's his, doesn't mean you should (unless a competent attorney tells you otherwise). What if you suddenly find out you're getting an extra $10,000 from the IRS (man, wouldn't THAT be a nice thing to worry about)? Easy...just use your unused exemptions to cover what you can. I don't think the trustee would bat an eye if you amended your petition and used some of your unused exemptions to exempt a previously unknown asset. But if you suddenly say the stuff you own isn't really worth what you originally said (so you'll be able to exempt more of this "new" asset)...he/she might question that.