Will the trustee go back more than 2 years

[Vicduck]

It looks like I will move forward with requesting a chapter 7 but I am concerned with how a trustee may look at a property transfer. I have spoken with an attorney and they think all "may be" OK. I live in Virginia and the look back period is 2 years.

Here is my story and I hope everyone can understand what I am trying to explain:

I co-owned a home for 30 years. Back in 2009 the co-owner refinanced in their name only. They had finished paying their half on the home and I was paying 2 mortgages for a total of $1300 per month.

The first mortgage had been refinanced years ago when I started a business and we took equity out of the home, so the co-owner and I did a amortization based on what they owed on the first mortgage, and they continued paying until 2003. At that point even though the loan was in both of our names they had completed paying their half for the original cost of the home, and I took over the total payment. In 2007 I took out another loan that the co-owner signed for only to give permission for me to get a second loan.

I made all the payments on both loans until my life bottomed out. In Feb of 2009 the co-owner refinanced in their name the 1st mortgage was about $10k and the 2nd about $65K.

The home was appraised for $234K. To high for our market, I should know I am a Realtor, hence the drop in income for the last few years. So there was equity in the home, and in the state of Virginia the home is not protected except for married couples. Which I did not know until I started looking into filing for bankruptcy a few months ago.

When this was done I had no intentions of filing bankruptcy, I could not keep up the payments on the mortgages and all my credit cards. I was never late on a payment but I knew it was getting to the point that I could not keep everything going. So I told the co-owner that I would sign the home over and relinquish any monetary rights to the property. I was worried about hurting their credit, they have retired and it is bad enough that they now have a house payment that they did not plan on, but at least there are no negative reports on their credit history.

Now, my income has dropped even more and I will never be able to pay off the near $100K I owe in credit card debt. In the past 2 years I have worked out good payment plans with many of the credit cards but some will not work with me, BOA. I am 60 years old and 3 months ago I missed payments on 2 cards and for the first time in my life it was reported on my credit.

I still live in the home I used to own and when I can I pay rent to help out. Once I know for sure that I am going forward with the chapter 7 and stop paying the credit cards I will be able to pay rent. What I am concerned about is.... if the trustee notices that I have lived in the same home for 30 plus years they will go back and see that I was a co-owner. The co-owner has done everything right and I screwed up and the last thing I want is for them to loose the home or have to pay more money to keep it.

I have exhausted all my resources and have borrowed from my family just to keep my head above water in the last few years. I never thought I would be in this position at my age.

Any feedback would be great.

[AngelinaCat]

Hi Vic:

Welcome to the forum. I broke your long post into paragraphs so that it will be easier for the members to read and respond. I hope everything works out.

[tobee43]

it was also two years in florida where we filed.

we also co-owned property that had transferred just UNDER the two year time period so we had to list the deed transfer. the trustee did ask some questions about the situation since we were co-owners for over 20 years on that property.

we knew we were getting into trouble when an illness entered into our lives. we filed with over 200k in medical bills). so out of concern i approached the other owner to buy back our share which actually was underwater even then, but, my concerns were to secure the property for them as i didn't want us to be in a situation IF because at that time we were not certain we were filing bk, but IF we ended up doing it, i didn't want the situation to be one that the trustee would force the sale of the property. actually, what i found out later was even if we hadn't resolved the issue prior to our filing, the trustee would have given the co-owner first option to buy out our share.

if your petition says 2 years, and you are filing AFTER that 2 year date...you don't to list it, we did, because it was JUST a hair under that 2 year mark and the best advise anyone can give you going through this process is be as honest as possible and just deal with the situations as they arise. you don't want to be caught in the middle of a lie that can underscore your position by now having the trustee question even more items on your petition.

the other thing for us was there were other situation in our case where that magic 2 year mark was so important that we had to hold off our filing date to be able to answer honestly NO we did not to this within 2 years of such and such a date. we wanted to be truthful, and the only way we could do that was holding off our filing.

also, please, do yourself a favor and go to a few free consults with attys. sit with them and tell them what's going on and see if you can get some direct "Virginian" advise so all your basis are covered.

i understand, like most of us on this forum this is a trying and stressful time for you. we were older as well, actually when we filed our income was ss, a pension and unemployment...with no hopes of two old people ever getting the type of jobs we used to have, that would NeVER happen again. this will not be easy, but you will make it though just fine. just think about your moves and be as honest as you know how

[frogger]

Might, might not. The trustee can look back further. It might depend on how bad that rat is stinking.........

[tobee43]

Might, might not. The trustee can look back further. It might depend on how bad that rat is stinking.........

exactly, got that right frogger! if you have something is hiding that smells, it is awful when or if it's found. that's why is best to be as honest as can be.