Co owner on home & bankruptcy

[EastWestWest]

Hello all. Newbie here with a question (please be gentle on me) . I bought a home jointly with my mother a year ago (we both are listed on the mortgage as well as with our county). I am about 20K in CC debt and finding it impossible to get out.

If I file - how does the bankruptcy effect our joint home? I don't want to sell as this is the only place for my small children.


(Financial background = small part-time job for myself and my 2 kids get SS Survivor benefits from their deceased father).

Any insight you guys can provide will be greatly appreciated.

[keepmine]

Your half is an asset that must be disclosed. As long as the equity is below what Ca. exempts, it should not be an issue.
Most bk lawyers will give a free or lowcost initial consultation. Speak with a few and see what they sugest.

[EastWestWest]

Thanks for the reply keepmine. I am definitely calling a lawyers tomorrow for an appointment.

[LadyInTheRed]

What is important in determining whether you can keep the home is how much equity you have in the home and whether you can exempt your half of the equity. California has two exemption systems you can chose from. Which system you use will probably depend largely on how much equity you have. One difference that is important to somebody with equity in their home is that System 1 provides a larger homestead exemption, but System 2 has a large wildcard available for other property if you don't need the entire homestead exemption. Read my blog entry for more info on CA exemptions: http://www.bkforum.com/entry.php?336...tcy-Exemptions. It's a little complicated, so go to your attorney consults with information on the equity in your home and value of your other assets so you can get good advice on which system is best for you and to determine whether you can exempt all of your assets.