Question Keeping a car in a BK-7

[Guardian1956]

I live in Illinois, and will be filing BK soon. I want to know if there is anything I can do to keep my car, which is over the exemption limit for the state. Is there any posssibility of negotiating, or could I lose the car? The BK is covering my CC debts AND includes my house with an attached property; the car's value is $4500 over the limit. I don't have any other assets except for the house. Any suggestions or ideas about this would be greatly appreciated.

[OhioFiler]

You can pay the trustee the $4,500 and keep the car. Are you certain the non-exempt portion of the asset is that much?

[AngelinaCatHub]

I'm not sure about your exemptions in IL but if you have some wild card exemptions perhaps you can use them. If you express your desires referencing the personal property being over, the Trustee will usually make a good deal to you letting you pay to purchase your stuff back. Now remember, this makes you an asset case and will probably not affect your discharge but will lengthen the time before you bk is closed. It's a lot more paperwork for the Trustee, he could even abandon your car. Until you file, you won't know. BTW welcome to our Forum Family. 'Hub

[AJA]

When I filed I had a paid off car worth $5800 after the $2500 exemption. I offered 2/3 or $4000 and the judge approved it. I paid the trustee $400 a month for 10 months. No interest. Offer 2/3 and see if they accept. I'm still an open case due to land I owned and I'm going to try to get it abandoned back to me. Wife has a 50% interest so after taxes and comm. it's not worth that much. I'm 834 days in.

[sandra123]

If the car is owned outright and has no balance on it, the bankruptcy trustee might be interested in selling it. In today's market, it's hard to sell automobiles and you should take a good look at the wholesale market and not the retail market. The bankruptcy trustee would want to be able to liquidate it quickly and not sit on it. If it is still $4500 over your exemption he might just cross your fingers and hope they don't take a look at it. It might be a good idea to consult a bankruptcy attorney that knows the bankruptcy exemption laws for your state. If they are local to you, they probably know the bankruptcy trustee and what they expect. This will give you a heads-up when going to the meeting of creditors. As a last resort you can buy the car out of the bankruptcy filing.

[doni49]

I'm using the 2010 (16th) edition of Nolo's BK7 book. If this info has changed since it was printed, hopefully someone will chime in.

But IL allows you 2400 for cars and another 4000 wildcard for ANY property. So that gives you 6400 you can exempt on your car. What is it's value? Is there a loan?