My lawyer told me preferential transfer okay? Please help!

[tyson24]

In 2006, we suffered a layoff and lost our major monthly income. (And again in 2008 as well, but that is another story) Married with 2 small kids.

At the time, we had 2 semi new cars. We could not afford both, and with the loan on my car at the same credit union that our in laws bank at, we let the credit union start pulling pmts out of their account for the loan and just gave the car to them. We did not transfer ownership. They have insured it and made the pmt since 2006 and it can be verified with a notarized statement from the CU.

On October 2nd 2009, they paid the car off and transferred the title into their name. We have to file right now because of impending garnishment. I retained an attorney and he said we should not have a problem being that it was so close to a year ago. We are concerned that this may not be correct information.

Does this maybe mean that he knows how the trustee sides in issues like these? I am scared.

Oh yes and not long after they paid the car off, they took out another loan on it to pay some credit cards.

I am so worried about every little thing. My attorney seems very knowledgeable and I trust him but just looking for some other opinions of this situation.

[tyson24]

The funny thing is, I just found this on a lawyer's guide to preferential transfers in my state.

"Any transfer made more than 90 days or one year,
whichever is applicable, before the filing of the petition
cannot be avoided as a preferential transfer. In re Bame,
252 B.R. 148 (Bankr. D. Minn. 2000)."

In this case it is one year for a family transfer.

So if I file my case like he suggested we COULD do next week to avoid the garnishment, creditors could/would go after me for preferential transfer.

Am I understanding this correctly? I feel like I should go to the DMV and figure out EXACTLY when it was pd off and file the day after. I cannot take this stress!

Can someone please give me some feedback? Pretty please? My atty's exact words were "you'll probably be okay..." I do not like that probably stuff. Ugh I am so frustrated.

[tyson24]

62 views and no opinions? I am begging Even to just tell me what you think.

[buffy]

I think the issue MAY come up so be prepared to prove that they made the payments, etc. at the 341 meeting. If you can explain the situation clearly , I think you will be okay. I would go in there prepared! Good luck!!

[ccsjoe]

If your attorney practices bk regularly in your district he knows the trustees and what they will and will not tolerate. I would be prepared just in case like buffy mentions above, but honestly think if it has been just about a year, you should be ok.

[SweetGeorgia]

How much is it worth? What are your state's exemptions and are you using them for anything else?

My mother was very concerned that I would lose my 8-year-old paid off minivan (it used to be hers), and she wanted me to transfer it to her before filing. I didn't do it, but if I had, I would have (1) said I still owned it and (2) claimed it as exempt. I don't think people get in trustee trouble for claiming extra property; they get in trouble for hiding it.

Just a thought. Garnishment is a pain, and harder to end than you'd think (even after filing!) My husband's July 1 and 15 paychecks were garnished (25%) and we filed July 12. The lawyer dismissed the garnishment immediately, but we just got the July 1 amount back last week. Still waiting on the other.