what can i keep

[fljb]

Me again ... I know my car can only be $1000 - which for some reason my 2002 ford windstar with 105,000 miles is worth more than that -grrr not sure what to do about that... but what about things like boats, 4 wheelers, TV's, tools ? do they make you sell all that?
none of these have liens & and I am only planing to BK CC debt & I did not use CC to buy any of these items (does that matter?)

I know i can keep the equity in my house .. .which there is NONE anyway ...
ps - i'm in FL

thanks again in advance .. just trying to learn....

[AngelinaCatHub]

You betcha it will become part of your estate. You are like allowed one TV (no not a 58 inch LCD) and vcr and normal necessities. Does not matter if paid for or not. It can be sold to pay the creditors. C7, I compromised and am paying back $5400 for my own stuff. Get the C7 book from Nolo.com for about 17 bucks downloaded on pdf form. It will tell you everything about 7. See a lawyer for better info. Wish you well. ‘Hub

[lrprn]

Me again ... I know my car can only be $1000 - which for some reason my 2002 ford windstar with 105,000 miles is worth more than that -grrr not sure what to do about that... but what about things like boats, 4 wheelers, TV's, tools ? do they make you sell all that?

Here's a link to the Florida bk exemptions - http://www.bankruptcyinformation.com/FL_exemp.htm

What you can keep depends on how the value of the items fits within what is allowed here. Have you set up 3-4 free or low-cost initial consultations with experienced FL bankruptcy lawyers in your area? That's the very best way to sort out what you can keep and what you can't if you do file bankruptcy.

[philslyn]

Yes they will. Mostly u get to keep one car coz u need transportation, and a house to stay. and furniture. But the rest Yes..

[2Bshinyandnew]

If you were not claiming your homestead as exempt, you would be entitled to take the $4000 "wildcard" exemption in Florida. This is a fairly new Florida Statute, July 07, I think.

If you have no equity in your house, is it really worth it to reaffirm and keep it? Just throwing the idea out there. It would all depend on how much your mortgage is, etc. I bought my house in late 2002, so I have a good amount of equity in it and a great mortgage, so I will claim the homestead exemption. Plus, my mortgage is around $1200 PITI, and I wouldn't pay too much less for a rental for my kids and I so staying makes sense. If I crunched the numbers and saw keeping the house didn't make sense, I would have to let it go.

The two attorney's I have seen so far did not seem to think I would have any problem keeping the possessions I do have, including the 3 year old 37" LCD TV. One attorney told me a story about a client who had a lot of tools, and the trustee decided to take the tools. After trying to auction them off and paying storage fees, the debtor got a call from the trustee saying he could have them back, it was costing more to store the tools and trying to sell them then he thought they would ultimately get.

This attorney went on to explain that in my district we have 3 trustees and literally hundreds of BK's being filed a day. Unless something really stands out, they don't have the time to take and auction off or wholesale your 3 year old T.V. and typical 3 bedroom household furnishings.

Cars seem to be a different story though. They are easier for the trustee to get some $$$ for. My 2004 Hyundai is beat to hell (I have an 18 year old I share it with). The last oopsie she did to a rear quarter panel didn't phase me a bit. You can bet I will take pics of it though, that and the broken door handles, etc. I plan on buying the car back from the trustee, but I sure as heck don't want to pay more than if I went to buy it from a private person.