Hi. I’m Melanie and I recently filed chapter 7. I have an attorney and it’s early but I feel they may not push for my best interest. They said I file them everything is up to trustee. One question I have is can I possibly get the trustee to agree to sell enough of my property (home and 61 acres) to pay off debts and allow me to retain some acreage? The home and 15 acres will pay off all debts and I will have 46 acres left. It is all under on title though.
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The short answer is "yes" but the long answer is that it is up to the Trustee.
If you wanted to keep control over the process of selling to pay creditors a Chapter 13 (or 12 or 11 depending upon your situation) would have been more appropriate. Having said that, if you can show (with a valid appraisal) that going through the time and expense of subdividing and selling certain parcels (as opposed to a much simpler sale of all parcels) will produce sufficient funds then maybe your Trustee will agree. There is no harm in asking. Just remember, a Chapter 7 Trustee has no duty to you, the debtor. His/her duty is to the creditors and, as part of that duty, his/her job is to liquidate assets in the most efficient way so that creditors get paid and the bankruptcy estate is closed sooner rather than later.
One more thing. . . if selling all 61 acres will produce excess proceeds after payment of all allowed claims, the excess will be returned to you. You would then be free to attempt to purchase a portion of the land back from whomever bought it. Not that such would work, but it is a possibility.
Des.
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