Hi again. I wrote Friday about my husband not wanting to file BK, he wanted me to file separately even though he also has a lot of cc debt. We talked this weekend and I showed him there's no other way out of the mess we're in. Thank goodness I've passed that obstacle!
I don't know yet if we'll qualify for Chap. 7 because we're so close to the median (slightly over but have lots of medical expenses). If we wait til October, a recent bonus will fall off his income and that might help.
He reminded me that a few years ago his elderly parents who live on Soc. Security asked us to hold onto $6,000 of their savings in case they needed to qualify for a Medical-paid nursing home, or something like that. He's had it in his checking account all this time. He also has $20,000 in mutual funds savings for our retirement which is just under the limit for the CA Homestead exemption. He's 10 yrs from retirement and not in good health so we really need that cushion. We don't own a home or anything else of value. Our two cars are old and costing a fortune in maintenance & repairs.
Questions:
1. What do we do with the $6,000? It's not really ours - wasn't a loan or a gift. Will it raise questions if we give it back to his parents 5 months from filing? Or should we use it for things we really need, like dental work, a new bed, and a down payment on a decent used car (which we would reaffirm), and then hope to save enough to give it back when/if they need it?
2. I want to hire an attorney for all my questions but we're afraid that once we do, it will show intent and could cause us trouble if we go forward with the above ideas. Is that true, or can I hire one now?
We're not trying to do anything sneaky, just confused how to do things right and not lose his parent's money.
Thanks again for all your help. I'm sorry this is long and if these questions have been addressed elsewhere. I guess I'm not very good at the Search function.
I don't know yet if we'll qualify for Chap. 7 because we're so close to the median (slightly over but have lots of medical expenses). If we wait til October, a recent bonus will fall off his income and that might help.
He reminded me that a few years ago his elderly parents who live on Soc. Security asked us to hold onto $6,000 of their savings in case they needed to qualify for a Medical-paid nursing home, or something like that. He's had it in his checking account all this time. He also has $20,000 in mutual funds savings for our retirement which is just under the limit for the CA Homestead exemption. He's 10 yrs from retirement and not in good health so we really need that cushion. We don't own a home or anything else of value. Our two cars are old and costing a fortune in maintenance & repairs.
Questions:
1. What do we do with the $6,000? It's not really ours - wasn't a loan or a gift. Will it raise questions if we give it back to his parents 5 months from filing? Or should we use it for things we really need, like dental work, a new bed, and a down payment on a decent used car (which we would reaffirm), and then hope to save enough to give it back when/if they need it?
2. I want to hire an attorney for all my questions but we're afraid that once we do, it will show intent and could cause us trouble if we go forward with the above ideas. Is that true, or can I hire one now?
We're not trying to do anything sneaky, just confused how to do things right and not lose his parent's money.
Thanks again for all your help. I'm sorry this is long and if these questions have been addressed elsewhere. I guess I'm not very good at the Search function.
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