If you have a Chapter 7 asset case, your bankruptcy trustee collects and sells your asset and pays your priority debt with the proceeds. Our last blog post was about what happens to priority debts in a no-asset Chapter 7 case. Most consumer “straight bankruptcy” Chapter 7 cases are no-asset ones. This means that the bankruptcy trustee does not … Read More
The Homestead Exemption in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
The homestead exemption protects the equity you have in your home. If you don’t have too much equity, consider Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Our last two blog posts outlined 15 separate ways that bankruptcy can protect your home now and/or in the future. We’ll be explaining each one of these ways in 15 separate blog posts. Here is the first … Read More
When Gift-Giving Is a Fraudulent Transfer, and When It Isn’t
Gift-giving, including selling something for much less than it’s worth, can be a problem in a latter bankruptcy. But usually it’s not. Most people filing bankruptcy have neither a need nor the desire to hide anything from their creditors. There’s no need because most people’s assets are already protected through state and federal laws. There’s no desire because most … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Negotiate Out of a Preference Mess
Your lawyer can likely negotiate with your Chapter 7 trustee to prevent the forced repayment of your prior payment to a relative or friend. Our blog post two weeks ago introduced an uncomfortable problem: preference payments to a friendly creditor. (Please read that blog post before reading this one.) Then last week we discussed two possible solutions to this … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Ways to Resolve a Preference Mess
A possible preference mess is the forced repayment of your pre-bankruptcy payment to a relative or friend. Here are two solutions. Last week’s blog post introduced an uncomfortable problem: preference payments to a friendly creditor. (If you haven’t already please read that one before reading further here.) The Solutions We ended that blog post by listing and giving short … Read More
Your Chapter 7 Trustee Disputing an Asset’s Value
What happens when your bankruptcy trustee thinks you undervalued an asset? How does the trustee determine what you own and its value?